TechEquity Collaborative

History

In 2017, CEO and co-founder Catherine Bracy noticed a divide between technology companies and surrounding communities in the Bay Area after Oakland protested Uber’s plans to bring new tech jobs to the city. ¹ TechEquity was created to bring tech workers and companies together through with policymakers and stakeholders to drive change. ¹

After discussions with tech companies and neighbors, TechEquity worked with technology companies to promote left-wing equity and justice approaches. ¹

Focus Areas

TechEquity Collaborative’s three main areas of work are education, public policy, and corporate practice. ² Through education, TechEquity Collaborative has articles on subjects such as how to talk to an employer about race, why single-family home zoning “sucks,” and what a person can do to be anti-racist. ³ In public policy, TechEquity advocates for lowering the limit on how much landlords can raise rent, giving tenants the first opportunity to buy property when a landlord decides to sell, requiring LLCs that own property to state the true name of the landlord, increasing the threshold for laid off workers by giving 90 days notice prior to a layoff, and extending said law to contract workers. ⁴

Through corporate practice work, TechEquity advises on inclusive hiring practices, responsible contracting, situating employee responsibilities within a historical and equity context, and assisting companies’ practices with policy and advocacy positions. ⁵

Positions

TechEquity claims that anti-Blackness is embedded in our economic, political, social system, and in everyone. ⁶ TechEquity states that white supremacy enables people in power, both police and everyday citizens, to take away the lives of people they consider disposable. ⁶ TechEquity claims anti-Blackness is a constant form of abuse used by police officers, is maintained in the prison system, is utilized in the electoral process, that gerrymandering and voter suppression continue the tradition of anti-Blackness, and that anti-Blackness exists in the U.S. economy with high Black unemployment rates. ⁶

TechEquity runs a contract worker disparity project stating that contract workers do not receive the same salary or benefits as full-time workers with the same job. ⁷ TechEquity is attempting to bring equity to housing markets by encouraging companies to become rent-to-own without predatory lending practices, examining tenant screening tools to ensure fairness in rentals, and providing research and data on corporate landlords and equity. ⁸

System Reset is a program of TechEquity encouraging tech companies to recruit, hire, and retrain people returning from incarceration. ⁹ Tech Equity Collaborative states that System Reset encourages anti-racist actions and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments. ⁹ TechEquity began the Housing Data Initiative to use data to ensure that public policies are having a positive impact on affordable housing. ¹⁰

Finances

In 2021, the TechEquity Collaborative reported net assets of $748,298. ¹¹ According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2021 TechEquity Collaborative recorded $2,253,301 in revenue and $1,864,376 in expenses. ¹² In 2020, TechEquity Collaborative raised $1,079,274 in revenue and declared $928,151 in expenses. ¹¹

Funders

Major funders to the TechEquity Collaborative include $680,000 from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2019 to 2020, $450,000 from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022 to 2023, $325,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2022, the Grove Foundation, $150,000 from the James Irvine Foundation in 2021, $215,000 from Walter and Elise Haas Fund between 2018 to 2022, $255,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation from 2000 to 2002, and a $415,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2023. Other donors include the Kapor Center, Mariam Assefa Fund, and the San Francisco Foundation. ¹³

Leadership

Catherine Bracy has been co-founder and CEO of TechEquity Collaborative since 2016. ¹⁴ Previously, Bracy spent three years at Code for America as senior director of partnerships and ecosystem, director of community organizing, and international program director. ¹⁴ In 2012, Bracy was the director of the Obama for President technology field office in San Francisco. ¹⁵ From 2010 to 2011, Bracy was a consultant for the left-leaning John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ¹⁴ Bracy was administrative director at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society from 2002 to 2010. ¹⁴