Abolitionist Tech Collective • Oakland, CA

Your infrastructure
should belong
to you.

Digital security, local infrastructure, and custom tools for organizations building a different world.

As long as your work lives on corporate servers, it's subject to corporate rules. We help grassroots organizations take control of their own technology — from secure communications to self-hosted platforms built around your community's actual needs.

Start a Conversation See What We Build

What We Do

Tell us what you need.
We'll build it with you.

Every organization comes to us differently. Some know exactly what they need. Others just know something has to change. Here's how we can help.

"I'm worried about our organization's security."

We assess where you're vulnerable — from unencrypted email to exposed databases — and help you lock things down. Threat assessments, secure configurations, encrypted communications, and ongoing security support to protect your organizers and the people you serve.

Digital Security Hardening Threat Assessment

"We need to get off corporate platforms."

You're tired of feeding Google, Meta, and Microsoft your data. We help you migrate to privacy-respecting alternatives and, when you have the connectivity, set up local servers in your own space — keeping sensitive data inside your building instead of someone else's cloud.

Local Infrastructure Self-Hosting Migration

"I want to build something for my community."

A digital library. A letter-writing platform. A resource database. A volunteer coordination tool. You come to us with an idea, and we help you design, build, and host it on infrastructure that respects your community's privacy and belongs to you.

Web Applications Databases Custom Tools

"We just need things to work."

Your website is down. Your database is slow. Your team can't figure out the new system. We provide ongoing IT support, managed services, and asset management so you can stop troubleshooting and focus on your actual work.

IT Support ABM Hosting Maintenance

Why This Matters

The tools you depend on weren't built for you.

The digital infrastructure most organizations rely on is owned by corporations whose business model depends on extracting and monetizing your data. Popular "free" tools capture your activity and sell it into an ecosystem that includes ad brokers and surveillance companies selling directly to law enforcement.

Your work is too important to run on systems built to work against the communities you serve. The alternative isn't going offline — it's building and using technology that reflects your values: privacy-first, community-owned, and accountable to your people instead of shareholders.

That's what we do.

Our Commitments

  • No corporate ownership. No shareholders, no investors, no board members. We're a worker-owned collective.
  • Your data is yours. We never share, sell, or hand over your data. Period.
  • Privacy and security by default. Not as add-ons. Not as upgrades. Built into everything.
  • Technology should serve people. We don't reach for a digital solution to every problem. We build what you actually need.
  • Accessible to all our allies. Our tools are built to be used, not gatekept behind technical knowledge.

"We must create our own digital infrastructure that reflects and contains our values, goals, and politic."

— ALF Services, Riverwise Magazine

Our Work

Built with organizations
doing the work.

We've worked with abolitionist organizations, community publishers, and grassroots coalitions to build tools that directly serve their missions.

Critical Resistance

Critical Resistance

Prison inreach & mail platform

ALF Services built a comprehensive web application for our prison inreach and mail program — enabling volunteers across all chapters to manage and respond to letters from imprisoned individuals. The platform's integration of scanning, mailing, and resource management eliminated our backlog and transformed our organizing capacity.

Flying Over Walls

Flying Over Walls

Pen pal matching & database

Through ALF Services' support, we've maintained a dynamic website and a robust database for processing imprisoned mail and pen pal matchups. Their management of our backend operations and hosting has streamlined our volunteer coordination and enhanced our outreach to support the queer and trans community.

ABO Comix

ABO Comix

Artist platform & sales system

ALF Services built a platform showcasing the work of queer and trans artists behind bars — handling everything from sales to volunteer mail processing. They've empowered us to support over 700 artists and ensure proceeds go directly back to the community.

BookMatters

BookMatters

Website redesign & hosting

ALF Services modernized BookMatters.com and WhereaboutsPress.com with a redesign and hosting solution that revitalized our online presence, making it easier for visitors to access and engage with our publications.

About the Collective

Worker-owned.
Community-accountable.

ALF Services is a member-owned tech collective based in Oakland, California. We're developers, designers, researchers, and organizers who believe the people building technology should be the same people governing it.

Grounded in collective governance and shared responsibility, we work alongside organizations to co-create tools that advance justice and liberation. No investors. No shareholders. Every decision made by the people doing the work.

Meet the Team

6

Collective members

Oakland

Based & rooted

700+

Artists supported through platforms we've built

Let's Work Together

Have an idea? Need to get secure?
Just want to talk?

Whether you're ready to start a project, need a security assessment, or just want to think through what's possible — we'd love to hear from you. No pitch decks required.

Get in Touch Visit Our Community