Community Partnerships Initiative
Science and technology have tremendous power to make our lives better. Decisions made by humans in the past are now often made by sophisticated machines, but those machines do not necessarily do a better job. The benefits and harms of new technologies are not distributed equally. People in historically excluded groups across race, gender, ability, sexual orientation, and income level are more likely to be affected by decisions about science and technology, and less likely to benefit.
The public often has important knowledge about how to make certain that science and technology will benefit their community and be fair. STPP respects and values this expertise and is dedicated to integrating these voices into public and policy conversations about science and technology. We listen and learn from communities. Then, we provide you with tools to engage in technical and policy advocacy. Our work falls into two categories. 1) Helping our partners respond to tech challenges, and 2) Horizon scanning, identifying emerging technologies that have potential impacts on our partners.
Learn more here.
If you are in Michigan and would like to discuss how we might work together, please contact Kristin Burgard at [email protected].
Our Partners
City of Detroit Office of Digital Inclusion and Equity
The Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration
We the People Action Fund
STPP is also working with We the People Action Fund to better understand the technical aspects of electrical grids throughout Michigan to advocate for fair electric rates around the state.
We the People of Detroit
Wastewater treatment costs make up the largest portion of Detroit’s notoriously high water bills, and is a major factor in shutoffs. We the People Detroit is interested in pursuing decentralized wastewater treatment as a way to increase community control of wastewater resources and bring down costs. STPP explored the use of decentralized wastewater treatment and the current state of decentralized technologies, and identified additional policy paths.