As co-founder of Agaric Design Collective, Benjamin Melançon develops and maintains web sites for companies, organizations, and individuals, using open source free software. He also promotes and supports several nonprofit organizations, especially public interest news sources, including the Fund for Authentic Journalism, Art For Change in Spanish Harlem New York, Gringoyo Productions, and The NewStandard. He helped found and was elected to the board of directors of the Amazing Things Arts Center and is helping to form a nonprofit called People Who Give a Damn. He has worked in media, retail and consulting. He attended the University of Massachusetts-Amherst on a Commonwealth Scholarship and studied journalism, economics, political science and information technology.