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TecsChange ~ Technology for Social Change

Our Mission

We provide technology to individuals and groups working for social change, locally and internationally.

Beginning in 1992, participants of Computers and Social Change Conference in Boston came together to discuss a common interest in technological use in developing countries. Connecting our computer skills with our desire to support progressive grassroots organizing, we founded TecsChange. Several of the founders of TecsChange (and the inspiration for our name) came from the national organization called TecNica. TecNica recruited technical volunteers to work in Nicaragua, during the Sandinista era. Louis Proyect of New York, who was on the TecNica board of directors, recently digitized a video about TecNica, the organization that in many way inspired TecsChange. Watch Video

We are volunteers, mostly from the Boston area, with software, hardware and computer training skills, as well as non-technical skills. We have a diverse membership and welcome volunteers at all skill levels. Our one volunteer requirement aligns with our mission: to support progressive social change here and in the developing world. Some of us have traveled to and/or worked in Latin America and Southern Africa, using our technical skills to train people in grassroots groups to set up software and hardware systems.

How We Are Organized

Staff

Volunteers

Volunteer Committees

• The Computer Repair Course Committee coordinates the Computer Repair Course which we offer four times each year to youth, community residents and activists in the Boston area. The committee sets the yearly schedule of classes, organizes tutors, designates the lead facilitators, and assesses student applications. The committee also arranges presentations given by local progressive groups several times during the course, focusing on social change projects that TecsChange is involved with.


• The International Committee coordinates our Laptops for Human Rights campaign as well as computer donations to progressive grassroots organizations in other parts of the world.


• The Local Action Committee coordinates and implements technical consulting and computer equipment donations to local grassroots organizations throughout greater Boston. This can include computer equipment donations, technical assessment and planning, installation/ networking, basic training and technical support. We provide sliding-scale Fee-for-Service work which can be requested by contacting us at tecschange@tecschange.org.


• The Equipment Donations Coordinator coordinates all incoming equipment donations which can be made by individuals, institutions, organizations and companies. (If you have something to donate, check FAQs on the Equipment Donation page for details.)


• The Fundraising Committee helps plan and raise the funds needed to keep our doors open, including mailings, events, grant writing, and more.

Since 1992, TecsChange has provided computer equipment, training and technical assistance to hundreds of grassroots groups organizations working for social change locally and internationally.

TecsChange ~ Technology for Social Change

33 Harrison Ave. 5th Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02111 tecschange@tecschange.org (617) 963-0262