Introduction

We launched the Public Interest Technology project at New America with a fellowship program on the theory that it would be worth investing at least a year experimenting with a variety of approaches, testing some theories about what it would take to build a field of public interest technology, and developing work that could generate enough momentum and inspiration to set us on a clear course for the longer term. We selected 16 fellows from a pool of fascinating project proposals; they then implemented 13 projects in eight locations across the United States. We focused our work on three central missions: field building, policy implementation, and policy development, which gave our fellows room to develop a broad array of projects, from foster care to criminal justice, immigration to social venture funding models.

We learned a tremendous amount from our field building effort, which began by connecting directly with people engaged in the loosely defined work of public interest technology to determine their appetite for being part of a field, and beginning to define what that field might consist of. Fellows Hana Schank and Sara Hudson conducted extensive research on the public interest technology landscape, and launched our own publication, The Commons, which amplifies stories of innovation in and around government. Andreen Soley and Alan Davidson have been building a network of universities and colleges tasked with defining PIT as an academic field, which has convened in person and by phone to dig into the challenge of building a better career pipeline into public service for students in a variety of fields. We look forward to expanding this work in our second year as we grow the audience for The Commons and expand our work with universities.

Our policy implementation work took on a variety of major challenges across the country. Fellow Marina Martin, working with the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families, helped redesign the process for new foster care parent onboarding, nearly doubling the number of eligible families in the state in a single weekend. Fellow Raph Majma worked with the immigration nonprofit CASA to explore how nonprofits might integrate technology into their work for increased efficiency and an enhanced ability to serve diverse populations. We also ran several discovery sprints—short, intense periods of problem investigation and solution sourcing—on rural nonprofits’ use of technology, on the needs in the immigration field, and most recently, on technological possibilities for family reunification during the migrant border crisis.

Finally, our policy development work created important connections with a policy community by co-hosting a 2018 Farm Bill Rural Development Innovation Summit, with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership and the National Cooperative Business Association. The summit gathered rural nonprofit leaders, community stakeholders, policymakers, and technologists to explore how we might best support rural America’s entrepreneurial spirit in a digital age, and bring tech thinking to a policy development process. Some of the ideas generated in the summit found their way into the Farm Bill. We hope to build on what we learned in this process to continue developing this type of “user-informed policymaking” that deploys tools and best practices from the tech sector to engage the people affected by policymaking into the policy design.

As our first class of fellows moves on to their next ventures, we are incredibly grateful for the scope, ambition, and quality of their work. For example, Dipayan Ghosh conducted well-received research on digital misinformation and algorithmic bias; Andrew Lovett-Barron explored funding models for nonprofits and social interest ventures; Sonia Sarkar worked with the health community in Baltimore to make healthcare more responsive to patients’ social needs; Michelle Thompson mapped financial inclusion across four low-income communities in the United States; Denice Ross analyzed networks in communities across the country; and Clarence Wardell worked with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on establishing technical capacity within nonprofit advocacy organizations.

We look forward to expanding this work in our second year as we grow the audience for The Commons and expand our work with universities

Several of our fellows will continue their efforts as we advance into our second year. Hana Schank will continue leading The Commons and establish a portfolio around government procurement resources; Marina Martin is working with several states on bringing technology to child welfare policy; Kristina Ishmael will continue to work with school districts on adoption and use of open educational resources; Raph Majma is leading a research sprint exploring the barriers to naturalization for legal permanent residents; Jeremiah Lindemann is continuing to expand the network of local governments participating in his Opioid Mapping Initiative; and Lauren Greenawalt will push forward with her work with Los Angeles County on using data to build an effective program to divert young people away from the criminal justice system.

We are also delighted to welcome new faces into the PIT team. Afua Bruce and Emma Coleman joined us midway through our first year as the director of engineering and senior communications manager, respectively. Maria Filippelli took on a fellowship leading our Census 2020 work in partnership with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Sabrina Fonseca and Lindsey Wagner are supporting our immigration sprint; and Eli Pariser, founder of Moveon.org and Upworthy has joined our team as a fellow exploring how platforms can support thriving democracies.

We have learned a tremendous amount in a single year, and what we have learned has further convinced us that we are onto something. The tools and methods that governments, advocates, and NGOs use to make and implement policy are incomplete, which deeply undercuts the results. When we put technologists at the table with policymakers, we can accomplish extraordinary things.

Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President of Public Interest Technology

Vivian Graubard, Director of Strategy

Afua Bruce, Director of Engineering

Emma Coleman, Senior Communications Manager