Supporting Local Struggles for Social Change

"It is incredible today to be using our network to print, access files, and access the Internet ... You have enabled ACE staff to focus more on getting our work done and less on the computer tools."

-- Penn Loh, Director of ACE, Alternatives for Community and Environment, an environmental justice organization in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.

If you are a local nonprofit organization or grassroots group and would like to request computers or technical help from TecsChange, download this Request Form [MS-Word].

TecsChange technical volunteers have helped dozens of grassroots groups and social change nonprofit organizations in and around the Boston area. Historically, we have donated computers and related requipment, including delivery and installation. We have also installed small networks for social change organizations in the Boston area.

We now offer expanded services! We now provide organizations with technical assessments, as well as computer equipment and technology services including technology planning, customized training and technical support. We charge a very reasonable sliding-scale fee to cover our costs. We limit our support to social change organizations that, because of the political nature of their work, typically do not have access to regular or large amounts of funding.

If you have any questions, email us at tecschange@tecschange.org

Equipment Donations
TecsChange's longest-running project has been the collection, repair, and donation of used computer equipment. Many local organizations have benefitted from this work, as well as a few groups as far away as New York and Chicago. While some of these groups are involved in some form of international solidarity work, others focus their energies on challenges facing communities in the Boston area.

Groups that have have received donations from us in the past have included:

Bikes Not Bombs

Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX)

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)

Grassroots International

Independent Media Center, Boston chapter

Latin America and Caribbean Solidarity Association (LACASA)

National Lawyers Guild Immigration Project

Pastors for Peace

We installed our first network at the then-brand-new offices of Grassroots International back in 1996, when TecsChange was still a handful of volunteers working out of a donated basement. Back then, it was a one-time project. At the end of 1999, we started a more thorough program as we developed our Local Action Committee and involved more volunteers as well as graduates of our computer repair course. Some of our volunteers have continued to provide technical assistance to the organizations where we have installed the networks.

So far, the following organizations have benefited from this service. We are sure that this is just the beginning!

INFACT

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH)

Alternatives for the Community and Environment

Grassroots International

Sangha Tibet Resource Center (STRC)

Other Technical Support
At times, we have provided other technical services to local organizations, including repair of computer equipment, software installations, maintenance of mailing lists and databases, and advice on using the internet.

How to Request Support
For more information, contact call us at 617.442.4456 or email us at tecschange@tecschange.org.

To request equipment or services, just download and complete our Equipment Donation Request Form. It is an MS-Word document. Please fill it out and mail or email it back to us. Thanks!