Raphael Lee

Guest Lecturer for EW277: Tech and the City – How to Get Urban Innovation Right, Molly Turner
Guest Judge for MBA295T: Online Marketplace and Platform Design, Professor David Holtz
Guest Lecturer for EWMBA 257-5: Generative AI for Managers, Professor David Holtz

The $3B prison telecommunications industry is one of the most under-reported bad actors in the criminal justice space. Private telecommunications companies exploit vulnerable families’ desire to remain connected while separated by incarceration. These providers are profiting primarily from low-income families: one in three families with incarcerated loved ones are forced into debt due to the costs of maintaining contact. A 15-minute phone call runs as steep as $25, and an email costs $1.50… Show more

The $3B prison telecommunications industry is one of the most under-reported bad actors in the criminal justice space. Private telecommunications companies exploit vulnerable families’ desire to remain connected while separated by incarceration. These providers are profiting primarily from low-income families: one in three families with incarcerated loved ones are forced into debt due to the costs of maintaining contact. A 15-minute phone call runs as steep as $25, and an email costs $1.50. Families spend up to $500 a month to stay connected to their loved ones inside.

Ameelio is a technology nonprofit that uses software to provide a free alternative. They use modern tech to provide mailing and video calling services. They partner directly with prison state systems to provide these services for free.

The company won Fast Company’s’ 2021 World-Changing Ideas Awards (https://bit.ly/313crok), and the NYT Good Tech Award (https://nyti.ms/3GqbZ2U). Ameelio has raised over $5.5M from Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey, Vinod Khosla, and others. Show less

Fast Forward is an accelerator program for nonprofits that use technology to achieve impact at scale.

Many proven solutions to poverty that already exist have not yet been effectively distributed to people in need. The D-Prize awards funding to new social enterprises that can distribute proven solutions to developing regions.

As a guest judge, I read, review, and score incoming applications for several of D-Prize's challenges, including flipped classrooms, public reporting on corruption, road construction mapping, sugar daddy awareness, and vaccine supply chains, as well as custom… Show more

Many proven solutions to poverty that already exist have not yet been effectively distributed to people in need. The D-Prize awards funding to new social enterprises that can distribute proven solutions to developing regions.

As a guest judge, I read, review, and score incoming applications for several of D-Prize's challenges, including flipped classrooms, public reporting on corruption, road construction mapping, sugar daddy awareness, and vaccine supply chains, as well as custom applications. Show less