What We Do — CS+Social Good

We need to shift tech culture to value people rather than just profits, and to work for change rather than just growth.

Our mission of changing the mindset in tech to make people more socially aware is one that won’t happen overnight — it will take us a lot of hard and smart work, planning and long-term strategy. We believe that, in order to get there, we need to tackle the problem from 3 different angles:

• Community: building a strong community of people interested in using technology for social change
• Culture: fostering a culture where people are more aware of the role technology plays in solving and influencing social issues
• Learning: providing people with the opportunities, connections and resources they need to learn how to use their skills to solve pressing social problems

I wrote a blog post before about who we are, our inception and our goals. As our team works hard to execute our vision, we’d like to share some of the work our team has been doing and how we want to get there. Here is an outline of our programs:

• Studio

For January-June of 2016, we are engaging 4 teams of students in a unique opportunity to launch and build their own tech-for-good projects. They will learn about community needs, develop technical prowess and gain experience in deploying and testing their solutions. The program includes mentorship opportunities and exclusive workshops.

• Discussions

To engage the broader Stanford community, we host bi-weekly discussions centered on the intersection of technology and social impact. Groups of 15–30 students explore issues such as the importance of mapping data in disaster response, and the rise of SMS technologies. CS+Social Good team members or industry representatives lead these discussions.

• CS 106 Section

We are currently teaching an additional section to one of Stanford’s introductory computer science courses. Each week of the quarter, the class of 15 students will learn about a different project in the tech for good space (i.e. data visualization for good), understand the technical skills utilized (D3.js) and build their own version.

• CS 90SI

The CS+Social Good team teaches a computer science course at Stanford called “Using Web Technologies to Change the World.” 25 students learn web development skills (HTML/CSS/JavaScript), and work on for-good projects from social ventures and from non-profits for seven weeks. Throughout the class, they also hear from speakers and visiting companies. Our partners in our first and most recent offering of CS 90SI were Oppia, SIRUM, LaborVoices and Delhi Government.

• Fellowships

We recently launched our fellowships program for Summer 2016 which will give students the opportunity to design their own summer experience working with an organization using technology to address social issues, abroad or in the US. Students will work full-time with their chosen organization, gaining industry mentorship and valuable hands-on experience. This summer, our fellows are going to work at Branch (a social venture bringing world-class financial services to Kenya), Grassroot (tools for civic engagement in South Africa), Quill (a New York-based non-profit building free tools to make students better writers), and Dr Consulta (extremely affordable medical services in São Paulo, Brazil).

• Mixers

To foster a strong community, we hold quarterly mixers. These events bring together students interested in using technology for good, giving them opportunities to network with other students and professionals, and spark conversations about how best to engage students. Mixers gather 80–100 students with faculty, engineers and entrepreneurs.

Special thanks and huge shoutout to our CS+Social Good team: Amy, Addison, Arjun, Angela, Debnil, Edward, Gloria, Katherine, Karthik, Manu, Maya, Michelle, Neil, Priya, SunMi, Thu, Vicki, and Vinamrata. It’s been awesome to work with all of you. Your passion and incredible work inspire me to work smarter and harder every day!