Syd Heller is the Chief Program Officer at The Last Mile, a nonprofit breaking the cycle of incarceration through in-prison education and post-release support. As CPO, Syd oversees TLM’s educational offerings, such as the Web Development Program, as well as their reentry support services. As a self-taught computer programmer who began his career as a full-stack web developer, Syd is passionate about technology education and helping others access it. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Russian Language and Literature from UCLA, drawing on his experience as a language learner, coding skills, and experience in TLM classrooms to inform the direction of the TLM program, platform, and vision.

• https://thelastmile.org/
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Facebook
• Learning to Code in Prison
• The Next Chapter
• The Last Mile Graduation

Cori Zarek is the Executive Director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University and a champion for using tools such as data, technology, and design to drive toward better outcomes in our society. At the Beeck Center, Cori leads fellows, students, and staff who direct action-oriented research projects to reimagine how institutions can better serve all people.

Prior to joining the Beeck Center, Cori served as Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States where she led work to build a more digital, open, and collaborative government including helping to stand up and support the U.S. Digital Service, 18F, and the Presidential Innovation Fellows. Cori also led the U.S. government’s work with the global Open Government Partnership. She was a Mozilla Foundation fellow in technology policy and advised Code for America on its principles and practices work. In 2020, Cori co-founded U.S. Digital Response which matches pro-bono technologists to work with government and organizations responding to the crisis. She currently leads that organization’s Advisory Council.

Previously, Cori was an attorney at the U.S. National Archives, and before that, at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press where she worked on free press, free expression, and freedom of information issues. She is the President of the Board of Directors for Muckrock, a nonprofit, collaborative news site in the U.S. that promotes transparency for an informed democracy, and also serves on the Advisory Council for the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law.

Cori has taught courses in First Amendment law and on data and technology since 2007. At Georgetown, she teaches Data for Social Impact. She holds a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Iowa. You can also find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Catherine Bracy is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Tech Equity Collaborative an Oakland-based non-profit, whose mission is to mobilize tech workers to create a tech-driven economy that works for everyone. They educate people in the tech sector around housing and workforce & labor issues and activate them to make changes in those key areas.  

Before founding TEC, she was Code for America’s Senior Director of Partnerships and Ecosystem where she grew Code for America’s Brigade program into a network of over 50,000 civic tech volunteers in 80+ cities across the US. During her tenure, Code for America’s Brigade was responsible for 64% of the total growth in the civic tech community in the country.

She also founded Code for All, the global network of Code-­for organizations with partners on six continents. During the 2012 election cycle, she was Director of Obama for America’s Technology Field Office in San Francisco, the first of its kind in American political history. She was responsible for organizing technologists to volunteer their skills for the campaign’s technology and digital efforts. Prior to joining the Obama campaign, she ran the Knight Foundation’s 2011 News Challenge and before that was the Administrative Director at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. She is on the board of directors at the Public Laboratory and the Data & Society Research Institute.

https://techequitycollaborative.org/
https://twitter.com/cbracy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinebracy/

Jan 6, 2021, will be remembered as one of the darkest moments in our country's history. A violent armed mob, incited by the president of the United States,  and fueled by lies, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, stormed the capitol with the clear intention of assassinating politicians and overthrowing the government. 

Since November, the president and his enablers have been spreading the big lie across social media that the election was stolen, and that if their supporters do not fight, then they will lose their country. 

For anyone that says that they didn’t see this coming was not paying attention. Today on the podcast I welcome back Shahid Buttar who has spent 20 years warning us of the rise of fascism in the US and how the technology is enabling it. We talk about how we got here, and if techs response since then was appropriate, and if we are headed down a path that could spell danger for free speech and encryption. 

Jenn is a user experience strategist and designer specializing in social impact projects and is passionate about using design to solve society’s most pressing challenges. She is currently leading research at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, where she is creating solutions to make the public interest technology field more inclusive. Jenn also worked at the United States Digital Service where she got to work with a wide range of departments from, FEMA, the census, and even fish and wildlife. Jenn is also a mentor to young technologists that are interested in starting their career in the public interest technology sector. In her spare time, she can be found breaking out of escape rooms, geeking out on board games, and searching for the best tacos.

Show Notes:

• US Public Interest Technology Workforce Survey
• United States Digital Service
• AIGA’s SHINE Program
• City of Austin Open Data Team:
• Coding it Forward
• Code for America Brigade Network
• Design Gigs for Good
• 7 Online Games to play with Friends 

The 13 Fund is a foundation started by Bilal and Jason, two entrepreneurs who exited their companies in 2020 and wanted to give back to the communities that supported them. Over the next four years, the 13 Fund will contribute $100k in unrestricted funds to emerging nonprofits tackling local issues in San Francisco and New York such as small-business development, homelessness, and mass incarceration using a uniquely transparent and principle-driven approach that they call "angel philanthropy". 

Show Notes:

• Introducing 13fund
• 
  

Mark Horoszowski is the co-founder and CEO at MovingWorlds, a social enterprise that helps companies achieve sustainability, equity, and other social impact targets by educating and engaging their employees. Mark is also the co-founder of the MovingWorlds Institute, which helps professionals find more purpose in their work and make a bigger impact in their careers. This past year, MovingWorlds teamed up with cross-sector partners to also launch S-GRID, which helps social-good businesses grow by building partnerships with the corporate sector. Mark is an RSA Fellow and is a founding adjunct faculty member and lecturer on Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Washington Tacoma's Center for Leadership and Social Responsibility.

Show Notes:

1. MovingWorlds Institute
2. Operation Asha: Decentralizing tuberculosis diagnosis and care through a community-based model that closes the delivery gap experienced by low-income patients in India
3. Tech spending more with social businesses, like SAP's commitment to spending 5% with social enterprises and 5% with diverse-owned businesses, called 5' and 5' by '25
4. Microsoft investing in building the skills of new engineers and startups around the world with a social impact focus through its MySkills and Global Social
5. Paul Polman blog post and video - really recommend watching the full video at the bottom. 
6. PayPal blog post about responsible leadership
7. S-GRID: Accelerating a Post-COVID Recovery
8. Building back a new normal
9. 15+ trillion in negative bonds
10. The Economist Hour
11. Doughnut Economics
12. MovingWorlds Corporate Programs

In this episode, I welcome Adam Goldstein.  Adam is an author, entrepreneur, and investor and started his first business at the age of 14. In 2010, just 10 days after graduating from MIT, Adam alongside Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman founded Hipmunk, a revolutionary new travel site which was sold to Concur in 2017

In this conversation, we talk about his new blog post series the Anxiety Algorithm an in-depth look at how anxiety affects us and tips on how we can learn to control it. But why does anxiety affect certain people more than others? Why are founders so susceptible to anxiety, and how do our never-ending feeds of snippets add to that anxiety?

@adamjgoldstein

In this episode, I welcome Anne Devereux-Mills who spent the first half of her career building and running advertising agencies in New York until an unexpected triple threat of cancer, empty nest, and job loss had her searching for what was next. 

In 2012 She founded the Parlay House which is a salon-style series of gatherings which now includes over 7000 women across the US, Europe, and the Middle East. Anne is also the author of the book The Parlay Affect, How female connection can change the world. 

Beyond the Parlay house Anne has worked on a number of philanthropic ventures from being a mentor for SHE-CAN foundation which helps female leaders coming from post-genocide countries, was a key member in helping pass Californias Proposition 36, which helped to reform Californias three strikes rule, and been the executive director of the Healthy Body Image Program.

Today we talk about staying connected during COVID, how social media is affecting adolescent girls, and how everyone should feel empowered to make a change.

• Anne speaking at the TSU PiDay Rally in 2017
• The Parley House
• The Parlay Effect: How female connection can change the world
• Depression and Suicide Rates Are Rising Sharply in Young Americans, New Report Says. This May Be One Reason Why - Time Magazine
• Gender Diversity in Silicon Valley - Harvard Law School
• Californias Proposition 36

In this episode, I welcome Julia Spiegel. Julia is a human rights advocate and lawyer, currently serving as a Deputy County Counsel for the County of Santa Clara, home to Silicon Valley. Julia brings high-impact lawsuits on a range of immigration and social justice matters and teaches international law and policy at Stanford.  With degrees from Yale, Stanford, and Princeton, Julia also has been a Sr Advisor at the U.S Mission to the UN, serves on the Bay Area Next Generation Steering Committee for UNICEF and the National Advisory Board of Stanford’s Haas Center, and has conducted research and advocacy on armed conflict in Africa for the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress

Today we get an update on the cases Santa Clara County has brought before a federal court on behalf of Silicon Valley Residents, what role technology has played in the foreign affairs arena, and what Santa Clara County is doing to get out the vote and ensure our election is safe and secure, and how you can help.

- Julia Spiegel Bio
- Julia Speaking at the Tech Stands Up PiDay Rally 3/14/2017
- Trump Administration Concedes Defeat in Challenge to “Sanctuary Jurisdictions” Executive Order Brought by Santa Clara and San Francisco Counties
- How sanctuary cities work, and how Trump’s blocked executive order could have affected them
- San Francisco and Santa Clara County argue ‘public charge’ rule should be blocked
- A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Military
- Rwanda Shows How Hateful Speech Leads to Violence
- Fear, Misinformation, and Social Media Complicate Ebola Fight
- Sign up to be an Election Protection volunteer
- San Jose’s SAP Center to serve as ballot drop box location for 2020 election
- Become an Election Observer in Santa Clara County