2019 Voqal Fellowship Spotlight: Allister Chang

March 20, 2019

The Voqal Fellowship is an investment in a new generation of social entrepreneurs interested in launching the next “big idea” aimed at increasing equity for those who are least well off politically, economically and/or socially. In this month’s 2019 Voqal Fellowship spotlight, we take a look at Allister Chang and his project Civic Suds.

Chang’s project, Civic Suds seeks to expand digital access and supports digital literacy development for families in the United States living below 200 percent of the poverty line by installing public access computers and facilitating digital literacy trainings inside coin laundries.

Chang works to expand access to reliable information. Besides being a Voqal Fellow, Chang is an Affiliate at Harvard University’s Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. As Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders from 2014-2019, Chang developed the Ideas Box program, a pop-up multi-media center that won the Google Impact Challenge in 2015.

Chang holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was elected president of the student government, and a Bachelor of Arts in history (summa cum laude) from Tufts University. Chang was featured on stage at the closing plenary of the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, and he is on the International Literacy Association’s 2019 30 Under 30 list.

Chang enjoys figure skating and playing the piano. He has a “Gold Medal” from the US Figure Skating Association and a “Paderewski Medal” from the American College of Musicians.

Learn more about the Voqal Fellowship here.