Developers For Democracy: How Your Code Can Build A Better Society

Developers For Democracy: How Your Code Can Build A Better Society

The function of your code reaches further than its branch.

The code you write connects people to their representatives and bring communities together.

We have seen the power of your work. In the past month, Twilio has powered 750,000 calls to Congress, thanks to your code and ingenuity. We’re hoping you join us on the road to 100 million calls as part of the Voices for Democracy initiative.

Voices for Democracy unites builders with those who need help building. Your skills can quite literally help change people’s lives for the better. This isn’t hype. This is precedent.

Developers Building Voices For Democracy

Last June, Ian Webster single-handedly engineered a better way to call Congress. He consolidated every representative’s number, and built in logic that saves you from dialing more than one number.

Dial 1-844-USA-0234, enter your ZIP code, and you’ll be automatically connected to your representatives.

In the months since launching Call Congress, Ian has logged almost 10,000 calls connecting citizens to their elected officials.

This past month, the Capitol’s switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. When constituents want their elected officials to hear their voice, they call. It’s the most effective way to express and document your concerns directly.

When you call a Congressperson’s office, a staffer will answer the phone and document what you’re calling about. The subject and volume of calls are compiled into data and shared with your Congressperson.

350,000 of those calls were powered by Mobile Commons on the Twilio platform. That’s 350,000 new pieces of data, expressing the voice of the people, entered into record.

A few years ago, in one of the many battles for Net Neutrality, Call Power mobilized thousands to fight for a free and open internet.

Just this past month, they logged over 200,000 calls to not only connect constituents to representatives, but to inform them about many issues as well.

Call Power informs users before connecting them to elected officials. When a user receives a call, they’re played a recording from a campaign organizer briefing them on an issue. Then the user is connected to their elected official.

These tiny connections can lead to a groundswell of change. Each line of code you write helps power this change. As Twilio CEO, Jeff Lawson, noted at The Crunchies, this change will be hard fought. But, it is in our nature.

“We do a lot of hard stuff. We tackle hard problems. We plow through walls. That’s what we do for a living. The current political climate requires us to do this and tackle some new problems like we never have before. Fellow Americans are not the enemy, it is the people who profit by dividing us,” said Jeff.
“Let’s try to use our power of technology to connect people, not to divide them.”

Join Us

If you’re a builder looking to use your code or skills for good, email Erika Balbuena at erika@twilio.org to find out which projects need help. If you work with an organization that could benefit from powering communications between representatives and your community, get started today with www.twilio.org/apply.