Austin Tech Alliance’s mission is to promote civic engagement in Austin’s tech sector. Part of that work involves an advocacy focus aimed at using tech as a tool to help solve civic challenges and promoting tech-forward policies at both local and state government.
With the help of local organizations and tech spaces, Austin Tech Alliance will work to influence policy and local initiatives in these point areas during the next year. As for 2020, this is our year in review.
Thanks to the hard work of ATA’s members we can celebrate:
Voting and Elections:
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- Ahead of the November general election, we registered 215 new voters in Travis County and updated voter registration information for an additional 400 people.
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- We hosted 11 voter registration drives and partnered with Register2Vote.org to host a block-walking event for the 2020 general election.
- On October 5th, 2020, registration deadline day, we staffed the drive-through voter registration location and registered 1000 voters in partnership with the Travis County Tax Office.
Homelessness:
- In January, ATA organized tech workers to form a Point-in-Time count team. The team conducted a census of the north region of Travis County to obtain an accurate count of the region’s homeless population.
- We have continued using our social media platforms to educate about homelessness and camping ordinances in Travis County.
Connectivity:
- We partnered with AT&T, Crown Castle, LOGIX, and the City of Austin for a Lunchtime Lightning Talk about preparing for a 5G future.
- ATA Executive Director Sarah Ortiz Shields wrote op-eds about connectivity for the Austin-American Statesman and the Austin Chronicle.
Transportation Awareness:
- In partnership with other organizations, we sat on the Project Connect Ambassador Network and the Transit for Austin Coalition. ATA educated the community by giving feedback about the Project Connect, publishing blog posts, and hosting community events. Proposition A passed this November by voters, which will fund the Project Connect mobility solutions in Austin.
- We sat on the committee for the Ford Mobility Challenge which awarded funds to local community organizations advocating for transportation and tech solutions in Austin.
Census:
- We created awareness campaigns, hosted lunch-and-learns, and published a 1.5-year-long blog series to encourage the community to take the 2020 Census.
- We were appointed to the Travis County Complete Count Committee, a working group established to ensure that all in Travis County are counted on the Census, including hard-to-count populations such as young children, college students, those experiencing homelessness, and those who speak languages other than English, among other groups.
- We sat on the Business subcommittee and the LGBTQ+ Census subcommittee to ensure that those communities were accurately represented on the 2020 Census.
Year-in-Review
- We sent a questionnaire to all of the Austin City Council and Travis County Commissioners’ Court candidates to gain insight into how their platforms aligned with the ATA policy agenda.
- Issued a members-only guide via a series of emails to mobilize companies to get their teams out to the polls.
- We hosted over 15 events this year, some of the highlights include:
- The Importance of the POC Vote: A Chat with Jamarr Brown & Pooja Sethi
- Tech Talks: Listening sessions with ATA
- 2020 Census: Cyber Preparation, Security & What the Census Means for You
- Lunchtime Lightning Talks: Mobility & Access
- Lunchtime Lightning Talks: 5G
- Lunch n Learn with Travis County Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant
- Austin Startup Week Election Primer
- Diplomacy Ignites Prosperity: Diplomacy and Tech in TX
- A Transportation-Tech Talk with Randy Clarke
- Our 3rd Birthday Bash
- Coronavirus Hackathon
We couldn’t do it without you, our members. To support ATA sign up now as a donor.