Wanted: Congressional Innovation Fellows

Wanted: Congressional Innovation Fellows

Congress needs tech innovation. Become a paid Congressional Innovation Fellow.

Talented technologists get first-hand experience in federal policymaking and shape the future of tech policy through paid TechCongress fellowships. Does this sound like you or someone you know?

TechCongress bridges the divide of knowledge and experience between DC and Silicon Valley. It places computer scientists and engineers to serve as technology policy advisors to Members of Congress in three roles:

Senior Congressional Innovation Fellowship places mid-career technologists on Capitol Hill for twelve months.

Congressional Innovation Fellowship places early career technologists, including graduates of technical degree programs, on Capitol Hill for ten months.

Congressional Digital Service Fellowship, a one-time program to help Congress manage the digital challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nominate a candidate

Apply for June 2023 fellowship

TechCongress

TechCongress is a nonpartisan nonprofit that help technologists’ careers through fellowship programs on the Hill. It has sent over 75 technologists to Congress since 2016. Fellows get to apply their technical skills to impact both Congress and tech policy:

Managing the investigation into the allegations made by Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen
Helping draft the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee report on tech monopolies
Issuing House Modernization Committee’s recommendations to make Congress more effective, efficient and transparent
Working on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to ban imports from Xinjiang on the grounds of genocide and human rights abuses.

Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen

Innovation Fellows apply their tech skills for good, such as managing the Congressional investigation into the allegations made by Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen.

Regulators have a small window of opportunity to act on the spread of hate speech and other harmful content on Facebook, said whistleblower Frances Haugen. “When an oil spill happens, it doesn’t make it harder for us to regulate oil companies. Right now, Facebook is closing the door on us being able to act.”

Haugen hit the headlines earlier this month when she was revealed to be the whistleblower behind the leak of a cache of internal Facebook documents that, most notably, showed the company was aware of the harm caused by its Instagram app to teens’ mental health.

The ex-Facebook employee testified in U.S. Congress, accusing company management of prioritizing “profits before people,” a claim CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as “just not true.” It marks one of the biggest crises in recent history for Facebook, and arrives as regulators around the world look to curb the sheer power and influence of America’s tech giants. – Verve Times

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

This blog’s title image is from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. The film is about a newly appointed United States Senator who fights against a corrupt political system. – Wikipedia

Take Away: Do some good. Become a Congressional Innovation Fellow, or nominate someone else for the role.

Deepak
DemLabs

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Reposted from Democracy Labs with Permission