Movement Tech Mentorship Program

You’re a fit for this program if you are a …

…Seasoned organizer deciding which tech tools to implement in their programs;

…Solo technologist deciding how to leverage org resources;

…CTO hiring your first engineering team;

…Leader responsible for vetting technology vendors;

…or anyone looking to build up expertise in applying tech for organizing!

This is a 9 month program, running from March 2024 through the end of 2024.

Timeline

~ March 2024: Application due and mentees selected
~ April 2024: Cohort kick off
~ May 2024 to December 2024: Monthly 1-1 meetings with mentors + occasional cohort remote gatherings

Cost
Trestle is able to provide this mentorship free of cost in partnership with Zinc Labs.

~ Hiring and managing tech teams

~ More richly understanding product development processes and cycles

~ Scoping technology projects & evaluating vendors

~ Advocating for user-centered approaches, strong security practices, or tech team needs

~ Feeling more comfortable with the language and approaches of technology

~ Career pathways into design, product & technical leadership

~ Bringing balance, equity and thoughtfulness into tech & organizing cycles

Part of our mission is to build up a diverse new generation of technologists contributing to tech used in social movements, campaigns and organizing. We have a community of over 130 mission-driven senior product managers, designers, engineers & digital security specialists who make up the Trestle Network.

Our mentors come out of this community. Many have worked outside of politics or organizing, and come from rich backgrounds in civic, media, private sector and startup tech. Others have roots in political tech. All are eager to share their expertise in building technology with our movement.

Trestle’s goal is to ensure that tech is never a barrier to winning organizing strategies.

For those of you we haven’t met, here’s a little run down of who we are and why we’re passionate about you growing your tech muscles:

During the 2020 election season, major technology outages created a crisis of confidence in political & movement tech — exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a turn to fully digital organizing. A group of political + civic technologists stepped in to ensure that millions of organizers and volunteers were able to count on the technologies fueling their work in this unprecedented time.

That project, known as Uptime 2020, surfaced core dynamics that often lead to security, reliability and user experience shortcomings — as well as real challenges in tech talent recruitment, retention and diversity. Trestle Collaborative emerged in response as a way to bring a new diverse generation of movement technologists in to partner with movement organizers and progressive tech groups to make sure that tech crises never get in the way of our strategies again.

We prioritize working with organizations that want to build accessible tools, center BIPOC leadership in their organizing efforts, work to protect LGBTQ+, gender, and reproductive rights and/or are building just and equitable futures with an intersectional lens. We aim to create the tech capacity within movement organizations so that teams feel confident in wielding technology to power their work.