Consultation

It was clear to me that meaningful work would require building trust within the ecosystem. I wanted to take the time to learn what problems were actually affecting the space, rather than just the presumptions I’d accumulated through my years in the Obama administration. This meant outreach to immigration nonprofits through a mix of cold calls and introductions by peers. The Public Interest Tech team was new and was building its immigration practice, which led to a need to create trust between myself and the organizations I wanted to learn from. This led to consulting.

I led most conversations with questions geared towards learning what was going well and what wasn’t with these organizations. What I hoped for was thorny technical issues or a service that could be redesigned, but what often came up were issues related to case management platforms, like Salesforce, or website problems. Those questions were easy to answer but led to more questions, often through follow-up. As far as I was concerned, this was a win because we were able to start a meaningful dialogue, build trust, and continue the conversation on how the organization used technology. While I welcomed the possibility of consulting with these organizations, not every group knew what to ask for or what type of support they needed.

Be prepared to scale your advice

There are many organizations in the immigration ecosystem, and while many are unique, they largely follow similar patterns. What separated most organizations, for my purposes, was their comfort level with technology at the “service level” and their desire to change. It was common for folks to lay out for me their issues and the tool they thought would fix their problem, often hoping it would be the silver bullet they were looking for.

Advice:

• Problems aren’t always technically difficult, fun, or interesting to work on. There likely won’t be a lot of novelty—sometimes folks just need a Google Form. Your job isn’t to talk them into a better widget, it’s to provide them with the best option they can maintain and support after you’re gone.
• Be prepared to answer questions unrelated to what you want to help them with. I talked to organizations about payment applications and broadband, because that was what was most needed.

Consistency

“You’re not the first person that’s showed up to tell us how to fix things.” I heard this sentiment quite a few times when talking to immigration nonprofits. Given where the world is, people want to help and their support can take many forms, but letting in, training, and supporting volunteers requires a lot of resources from the nonprofit that they don’t always have. A lesson I learned in government was that folks are willing to wait you out. If you’re a political hire or someone who’s on a “tour of duty,” then the calculus for a career government employee is one of whether they can outlast you. By consistently showing up, by being a regular, and by having a helpful presence, cynicism usually gave way to curiosity, which led to a more fruitful partnership. I believed this would translate to nonprofits, and it did in my experience. Showing up regularly and being empathetic goes a long way.

Advice:

• Before reaching out to an immigration nonprofit, be honest about how much time you have to commit: Is this a weekend project, or your day job? Implementation is never smooth or easy in any environment, so plan for months. If you can’t do it, then question what kind of involvement you’re able to have and see if other work or volunteer opportunities are available locally or on places like Taproot.
• Be prepared for setbacks. Organizational priorities change. Most will be working with vulnerable communities and will need to respond to a rapidly-changing landscape, which may mean that the technology project you’re helping them with will wane in importance. This is normal and should be expected. If you’re not prepared or willing to deal with backsliding, then this may not be the best route.