The Civic Stack: A Salon on Democracy - #SFTechWeek
Hosted by
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^⎵^Bringing together civic tech builders, activists, and political philosophers for an intimate salon exploring how to rebuild political engagement from the ground up. We’ll start with a panel dissecting the current civic tech stack—what’s broken, what’s working, and where the opportunities lie. Then participants will break into interactive workshops to design better platforms for political engagement, testing their concepts on live San Francisco policy issues. You’ll experiment with different approaches to civic participation and discover which design choices actually move the needle on democratic involvement.
Panelists:
Claire Shorall – Co-founder of Sway, a Neo-backed civic tech platform building digital infrastructure for community voting blocs and collective political action.
Nick O’Neill – Co-Founder & Technical Director of 5 Calls, a civic action app that has driven over 5 million calls to Congress by helping people quickly contact their representatives on pressing national issues.
Maynard Holliday – Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies, overseeing 11 key Pentagon tech portfolios—from AI and hypersonics to 5G and microelectronics—and co-founder of Black in Robotics, advancing diversity and responsible innovation in autonomous systems.
Hosted by The Maaya Movement Institute, a youth-led legal action and research institute committed to creating a world where everyone can fully participate in civic, social, and economic life.
This event is a part of #SFTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.
Guest List
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