Did you know that contract workers in tech are paid less than their directly-hired counterparts with little to no benefits? They’re disproportionately more likely to be women, nonbinary, Black, and Latinx. 

Did you also know that 37% of landlords we surveyed in 2024 do not receive an applicant’s underlying reports when using an algorithmic tenant screening tool? They just receive a risk score or a recommendation, devoid of context or explanation. 

You might be wondering what these two (not-so-fun) facts have in common. This information comes from our work here at TechEquity. At TechEquity, we’re addressing how tech intersects with the most consequential areas of the economy for everyday people: where they live (housing) and the conditions under which they work (labor).

But this definition of TechEquity alone doesn’t fully encompass what TechEquity is—and why we do the work we do. So this is who we are in the words of the people who know TechEquity best: the TechEqui-Team.

What exactly do y’all do?

As Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer Rosita Vivanco says, our work speaks for itself. But for those of you who don’t know us, here’s a more concrete overview:

We focus on labor and housing but also AI, which impacts both sectors. Hannah Holloway, for instance, heads up our housing program as the Vice President of Programs, Housing. One day she’s researching how the use of AI-backed tenant screening tools is impacting communities of color and the next day she’s writing a letter of support for anti-displacement housing legislation to address the tech sector’s role in gentrification.

Megan Abell, though, would be the one going to the mat for that legislation as our Senior Director of Advocacy. You’ll often find her in Sacramento, meeting with legislators and vocalizing our support for legislation at committee hearings. Her work is backed by our in-house research. 

We know that any law is only as good as its implementation. So, with the help of our volunteers, we built tenantprotections.org to ensure that renters know their rights under the Tenant Protections Act—as well as other local laws—in California.

One of our volunteers is actually now an official part of the TechEqui-Team: Our Vice President of Data and Technology Danya Sherbini, who worked on collecting housing data from different municipalities as a volunteer before joining us full-time.

Then there’s our Senior Director of Administration and Finance Sesoo Igbazua, without whom none of this work would be possible. He builds and maintains our internal infrastructure so we can keep doing what we’re doing.

We actually want to change the structures in which this technology shows up in people’s lives so that people have choice.

Samantha Gordon Chief Program Officer, TechEquity

What’s the basis of your work?

We came to this structure after many iterations of the organization.

TechEquity was founded in 2016 to answer a simple but ambitious question: what would it take for the tech industry’s growth to benefit everyone? From the get-go, our Founder and CEO Catherine Bracy knew that meant committing to systematic change.

She knew that there was pushback to tech in communities around the Bay Area—and she also knew that many tech workers didn’t want to contribute to issues like gentrification. But these workers didn’t know what to do. So, Catherine built an organization to educate and mobilize them.

Then the pandemic struck. The basis of our work shifted, but the question at the heart of it remained the same. Today, Samantha Gordon, our Chief Program Officer, says that:

“[Our work] is really rebalancing who has power in these systems and making sure that we set the rules of the road. So it’s not just benefiting engineers who invented the technology or a venture capitalist who invested in the technology; it’s benefiting the people.”

Some of the people not currently benefiting from the tech economy are tech workers themselves—both in the US and abroad. Our Senior Vice President of Programs, Labor Tim Newman’s first assignment when they joined was to take our Contract Worker Disparity Project to the next level. Once Labor Research Manager Swati Chintala joined, they began looking at how we can do this work in solidarity with workers around the world, many of who provide the real intelligence behind AI.

Because nothing in California stays here, especially concerning the tech industry. Let’s leverage our ripple effect to support workers here and abroad.

I’m born and raised in the Bay Area. This is the birthplace of tech, and that really created a lot of inequities within the region—but also nationally. So I wanted to work at a place that was tackling those inequities.

German Calderon Senior Manager of Engagement, TechEquity

Why do we do this work?

That is a tall order. It can be intimidating at best to try to create systemic change—and at worst, it can be discouraging, frustrating, existential crisis-inducing. Most of us experience this after just doom-scrolling on Instagram for a few minutes.

Our Social Media and Campaign Marketing Manager, Lili Siri Spira, became passionate about creating awareness around the political economy after working as a misinformation analyst during the 2020 presidential election. She is inspired by worker’s stories, which she highlights in videos for our community members and legislators alike.

Senior Manager of Community Outreach and Engagement German Calderon finds his resolve in his personal experience. German was born and raised in the Bay Area. He witnessed first-hand the way some people benefited from the tech industry while his neighbors struggled with the rising cost of living; that made him want to do something about it.

As for Director of Communications Marion Wellington, they share many of the same sentiments: the passion for storytelling and the political action born out of their Bay Area childhood. But Marion also loves working here because of the people.

“Everyone here is so hardworking, smart, and passionate about what we do. What’s more, everyone here really cares about each other’s humanity.”

And why should you care about this work along with us? As our Housing Research Manager Daniel Geller put it, everybody works, everybody needs a place to live. All of this impacts you.

Everybody works. Everybody needs a place to live. And whether or not you want to focus on technology or the tech sector and how that interplays with housing and labor issues, it’s going to impact you.

Daniel Geller Research Manager, Housing, TechEquity

So what is TechEquity, really? 

TechEquity is ultimately made up of the people who do the work. It’s the TechEqui-Team—including our newest teammate, Project Manager, Events and Special Projects Keirstan Schiedeck. It’s the contract workers who share their stories. It’s the renters and advocates who use TenantProtections.org to spot illegal rent hikes and the organizations we work in coalition with to pass bold public policy. It’s you.

Do you want to play a more active role in making TechEquity what it is? Join our community or reach out to share your contract work and/or renter story!