Congress has a problem.  It's making technology policy without technologists.  It's building tech policy without nerds that know how to build tech. 

Congress has a lot of problems.  Most of which seem insurmountable.  

But this problem is different!  We can solve it.  We can build a tech-forward Congress.  I need your help to do it.  

I'm working to launch TechCongress— an organization devoted to connecting Congress with technology talent, tools and training.  The first step is a tech fellowship that takes smart computer scientists and engineers and sends them to Capitol Hill for one year placements to help inform policymaking on things like driverless cars or surveillance reform.  

I've been accepted to the Kick Accelerator, a six-week course in SF that can help turn my idea into a startup.  That's where you come in.  I'm asking for your help paying for the tuition for the program to get me through the next eight weeks and launch this organization. 

I know what you're thinking.

An organization to improve Congress and technology? Hogwash!

I spent six years in Congress— I get the cynicism.  I felt the dysfunction in my bones. During the government shutdown of 2013, I felt a deep sense of shame about where I worked.  It was my lowest professional moment.

During the shutdown, I vowed I'd leave and never come back.  But with some distance, that frustration made me realize— as someone who believes this country needs good, smart, nimble government— that walking away from Congress won't work.  We can't ignore Congress.

I also know that, even though it's hard to see through the general paralysis in the place, there are lots of good people in the Capitol trying to do good work.  I know because I tried my best when I was there and worked with a lot of others who did the same. I worked hard to help a constituent get her unemployment benefits when the California state agencies stopped returning her calls.  I spent hours working with conservative Republicans to restore a refugee program that helps Christians and Jews escape death-threats and imprisonment in Iran.

Most staff in Congress work their butts off and care deeply.  But people are so disgusted with Washington they've given up on trying to build the institution, or help staff do their jobs better.  

What I Need 

I can build this organization.  When I was in Congress, I launched the first skill-sharing conference for senior Democratic staff and the first digital skills training fellowship.  I ran strategic planning workshops for a dozen offices and over 100 staff.

I've build training programs for progressive political entrepreneurs in San Francisco and democracy activists in Burma.  And as Legislative Director for Rep. Henry Waxman (who the Washington Post called "one of the most prolific and successful legislators of modern times") I have a wide-ranging knowledge of Congress, tech policy and what it takes to succeed on Capitol Hill.   I've been bootstrapping Tech Congress since January and have invested $12,000 of my savings into building the organization thus far.  I'm in it to win it.  

There will be a number of challenges ahead.  I'll need to secure a diverse set of long-term funding to pay for administrative costs and the fellows, including their full salary and benefits.

I'll need to design a recruitment program that attracts top technology expertise.  I have to build bipartisan support for the program on Capitol Hill and in the technology community and develop an extensive orientation program to get fellows ready for working in Congress.

The program will succeed or fail on the quality of the placements, and the ability of the fellows to have a productive experience in Congress.

I've already met with over thirty Congressional offices and done extensive research into existing fellowship models, including other Congressional programs and technology recruiting at other levels of government, including the programs out of the White House (the Presidential Innovation Fellowship, 18F and US Digital Service) and Code for America program.  It'll be a lot of hard work, with some trial and error, but I'm not recreating the wheel.  I'm adapting existing programs to meet an increasingly great need.