Civic Tech Projects

Join the movement of tech volunteers for good

We’re building tools, visualizations, and apps that support the movement for economic justice. Join our team of volunteer researchers, designers, coders, and data analysts to collaborate on tough problems and share new skills.

Join Us

Build cool stuff that makes a difference

Tired of working on projects that are packaged and sold for profit? Help build open-source tools, visualizations, and apps targeted at boosting public policy outcomes and improving public policy implementation. We need your help to educate the public, amplify advocacy, and connect individuals to resources, working within TechEquity’s framework of structural change on housing and labor issues.

Prop 13 Visualization

Refine our parcel-level model and visualization supporting the movement to close California’s corporate property tax loophole and restore billions of dollars per year to local budgets.

Legislation Tracker

Create an open-source package of tools that helps organizations track, manage, and share their advocacy on crucial bills as they work their way through the California legislature.

Rental Data Scan

Research public rental datasets and build the case for comprehensive, accessible rental market data to support tenant advocacy and tenant protection policy.

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Our Project Reach

8 million

households affected by rent control in California

5,000 bills

currently before the California Legislature

100x gap

in commercial property tax rate for worst offenders under Prop 13

Civic Tech in Action: TenantProtections.org

In 2022 we launched the most comprehensive anti-gouging rent calculator in California: the Tenant Protections Rent Calculator.

Millions of California renters are eligible for local rent control and/or statewide rent stabilization under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482). But between inadequate documentation and complicated calculations, how can you know what protections you’re covered by? 

With one quick protections quiz and a rent increase calculator, you and your neighbors can understand what protections you’re eligible for and which laws your landlord may have violated. Our amazing team of civic tech volunteers turned this idea into reality. Read on to learn more.

Try the Calculator

“Through volunteer work on TechEquity’s rent control calculator, I’ve been able to dive headfirst into the tangle of local tenant protection laws, which has opened my eyes to the deep inequities and inadequate safety nets in my home state.

Collaborating with everyone from designers to lawyers has been a great learning experience in thoughtfully building a product for a good cause.”

– Emily Thai, former civic tech volunteer