About Us

Palante Technology is a worker cooperative that provides tech consulting services to progressive nonprofit, social justice, activist and community organizations. Through this work we've developed a deep understanding of nonprofit tech needs. We have also been long involved with activism and organizing in non-technological capacities, including involvement with many of our client organizations. This breadth of experience allows Palante Tech to provide services that are tailored to meet the specialized needs of nonprofit community organizations.

Jack Aponte

Jack Aponte

is a gender/queer Boricua, born in North Jersey and living in Brooklyn since 2002. Jack has been knee-deep in the Internet for nearly two decades; they first utilized their passions for technology and social justice to make a living in 2003 and they've continued doing so ever since. Jack has been involved in activism and organizing for many years, is a former collective member of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and currently volunteers frequently at the Audre Lorde Project. Jack's roles at Palante include Drupal site builder, project manager, and trainer on a wide range of topics from social media to privacy and security. Jack is also a blogger, casual musician, leftist gadfly, and all around geek.

Jon Goldberg

Jon Goldberg

works for Palante Tech as a database developer and systems administrator. A former community organizer, Jon "temporarily" fell back on his computer skills to pay bills ten years ago while looking for another organizer job. Jon quickly learned that small progressive organizations have specific technology needs that general tech consultancies and tech volunteers were unaware of. He devoted himself towards fulfilling that need, and has been doing so for thirteen years now.

Jamila Khan

is a geek in everything they do; including theater, activism, comics, puppetry, and technology. Starting with an Apple IIGS, they have worked hard at perfecting the art of taking computers apart when they don't work, and putting them back together so they do. A queer trans Muslim punk, Jamila loves that they get to use their geeky skills in support of so many wonderful organizations. Jamila is almost always online everywhere as mxroo.

Joseph

Joseph Lacey

was affectionately derided by a high school teacher as a Commodore 64 in a Pentium world. He's ridden this browbeating and countless others sitting behind help desks, administering networks, managing databases, teaching robotics and developing websites, all the while singing the praises of past and contemporary radicals to whomever would listen. Joseph's primary role with Palante Tech is CiviCRM and Drupal e-commerce implementation and development. He has a tendency to ramble incoherently as the sun sets to relinquish pent up energy from the endless hours of work.

We are members of May First/People Link and the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

Some of our collaborators include Michelle Murrain, Claudina Sarahe, the Progressive Technology Project, Design Action Collective, Hazan+Co, Micah Bazant, and Fureigh.

Our Name

Palante (also spelled pa'lante) is a contraction of the Spanish words "para," or "towards," and "adelante," or "forward." The word was a slogan and rallying cry of the Young Lords, a U.S.-based Puerto Rican liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s. You can find out more about the Young Lords here and here.