Hello everyone! We are pleased to present our June edition of our monthly newsletter The_Message. Read up and be sure to subscribe for future editions! Also, feel free to share your events, announcements, and anything else that’s happening. See you next month!
Index:
- Introduction
- Data Stories
- Recent News
- Civic fact of the Month
- What’s Up?
- Upcoming Events
- Announcements and Opportunities
Friday, June 3, 2022
Hello friends and Happy Pride Month!
We hope you had a great week. June kicks off Pride Month, and we’re excited to see the parade fully return in-person! June also marks Juneteenth, a time for reflection of our nation’s history. This year is the first that it is an official City holiday. If you’re looking for events to attend, the Brooklyn Museum has a fun day planned. In other news, we launched weekly updates via Slack, where you can find weekly round ups of news, job listings, announcements, and events from the civic tech community. Join our Slack channel to receive them.
Looking back at May, BetaNYC graduated our eighth (!) cohort of Civic Innovation Fellows. In just two months, students acquired analytical and visualization skills, tested out a new “Mapping the Public Realm” curriculum, and visualized NYC Open Data. Congratulations Abdul, Dimitri, Kevin, Lizbeth, Nariah, Richard and Rosario— we can’t wait to learn what you accomplish next!
Wishing you health and happiness this summer,
— BetaNYC
Civic Innovation Fellows ’22 NYC Open Data Stories
Each year, BetaNYC invites a cohort of CUNY Service Corps students to train and work with our team in our Civic Innovation Lab. This year students joined us during their second semester and worked with us 1-2 days a week from March through May. We are so pleased with this cohort’s energy and enthusiasm. They quickly learned how to use and analyze open data while also testing out a new “Mapping the Public Realm” curriculum.
In their final weeks with us, each student chose a topic and NYC Open Data to visualize and analyze. From housing evictions, art inventory, dog bites, air pollution, street trees, community gardens, and tow trucks, this year’s fellows leveraged NYC Open Data to tell quite the stories!
Check out the summaries of their open data projects.
Recent News
Legislation Watch
Councilwoman Julie Won has been working on two monumental bills that would provide New Yorkers with access to public wifi in public spaces AND will ensure proper using testing by requiring the city to test any public apps with New Yorkers.
The NYC Independent Budget Office’s (IBO) released a report on how the Penn Station Area redevelopment proposal will impact the City’s finances. As a result, we co-signed a statement alongside Senator Brad Hoylman, Manhattan Community Board Five, Common Cause/NY, Reinvent Albany and Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
Did you catch the NYC Council’s Tech Committee Hearing on Link NYC? What are your thoughts on the future of 5G, especially with the Internet Master Plan being re-evaluated?
⚖️
Civic Fact of the Month
Happy Pride Month everyone! As we recognize the work LGBTQ people have done worldwide, let us remember the origins of Pride Month – the Stonewall Riots. Learn more about the events leading to the Stonewall Riots, as well as the aftermath. Plus, if you’re looking to show your support for LGBTQ rights, Newsweek has a list of events happening across the nation.
👋
What’s up?
Read on for recent content picks from our team and community. Share yours in next month’s newsletter here.
👀 Check it out
ANHD highlights and ranks 19 indicators of risk to affordable housing in each of New York City’s 59 community districts. Check out their insightful 2022 housing risk chart.
Chris Whong recently created an app and needs your feedback! The app lets you draw an area of interest on a map of the city and get a report of recent 311 activity.
The New York Times produced this powerful visualization in memory of the one million souls we’ve lost to COVID in the United States.
📰 Catch Up on Headlines
New Yorkers can now mark ‘X’ as their gender on state ID by Catalina Gonella
DOT Announces Multi-Agency Study to ‘Reimagine’ the Cross Bronx Expressway by Dave Colon
After Texas shooting, NYC considers locking main doors at public schools by Jessica Gould
Maloney v. Nadler: Who would have thought? By Rebecca C. Lewis
NYC’s Population Plummeted During Peak COVID — And It’s Still Likely Shrinking by Suhail Bhat
Rodents on the rise: How NYC is losing the rat battle by Jake Offenhartz
MTA Promises to Do Better on Bike and Pedestrian Access — And Needs Your Help by Gersh Kuntzman
New state bills would extend mayoral control — with changes to class size, governance by Jessica Gould and Jon Campbell
SCOTUS could soon overturn New York’s gun law. Here how the state could respond. By Annie McDonough
📚 Read
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote-A History, a Crisis, a Plan by Eric Holder and Sam Koppelman
The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher
Feminist Surveillance Studies by Rachel E. Dubrofsky
🎧 Listen
Illuminating the Nazis’ Vast System of Genocide – CUNY Podcasts
New York Gun Regulation Laws; A School Psychologist on Managing Trauma; Latest on Long COVID; Netflix and Transphobia – The Brian Lehrer Show
‘A Genetic History of the Americas’ with Jennifer Raff’ – Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast
📆
Upcoming Events
June 1 – 30 Pride Month 🏳️🌈
June 2 at 2pm NYCDSA Data Science Open House
June 2 at 6pm Shiny Speedrun: Improvising an Interactive Data Visualization
June 6 – 10 RightsCon 2022
June 7 – 8 2022 Government UX Summit
June 8 at 3pm GISMO Virtual Application Fair (AppFair)
June 8 at 6pm Large Language Models, GPT-3 and OpenAI
June 14 Flag Day
June 15 at 6pm Public Policy Lab’s 2022 Summer Soirée
June 16 at 4pm Cornell Tech Fest
June 19 Juneteenth
June 19 Father’s Day
Sep 23 – 25 Data for Black Lives III (D4BL III)
📢
Announcements and Opportunities
To contribute to our listings, be sure it is mission aligned and submit your announcement, job listing, opportunity or request here.
BetaNYC is hiring a Civic Innovation Lab Director. If you have any questions, please email jobs@beta.nyc.
Data for Black Lives is back at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts! RSVP for the event now, and note that tickets will go on sale in July. We can’t wait!
Have a project that stood out to you? Nominations for the MASterworks Awards are now being accepted through Thursday, June 30.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is hiring an Environmental Justice Data & Evaluation Impact Fellow.
The Presidential Innovation Fellows is seeking a Presidential Innovation Fellow (PIF).
The U.S. Census Bureau is searching for a Civic Tech Project Manager.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is seeking an Associate Director of Data Governance.
The New York State Office of the Attorney General is hiring an Assistant Attorney General and a Legal Support Analyst.
The City of New York is hiring a Data Scientist in the Office of Labor Policy and Standards.
The New York City Council is searching for a Policy Analyst: Data & Technology and a Web Developer.
NYC Service is searching for an Operations Manager, National Service Operations Director and a Deputy Chief Service Officer for Community Engagement.
The NYC Campaign Finance Board is hiring a Website Content Manager.
The Enterprise Data Solutions (EDS) at the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity is seeking an Agency General Counsel, Data Curator and Scientist and Data Fellow.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development is seeking a Deputy Director for Housing Production and Sustainability.
ProPublica is hiring an Associate Product Developer.
Transportation Alternatives is hiring a Field Team Coordinator.
The NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research is hiring a Program Associate for their newly launched AI Hub.
The NYU Rudin Center for Transportation is searching for a Research Assistant.
DataKind is seeking a Chapter Co-Leader! If you have any questions, please contact community@datakind.org. Furthermore, they’re also looking for a Head of Data Science and DevOps Engineer.
The Center for Urban Pedagogy is recruiting applicants for their program Design for Civic Change. And they’re hiring an Executive Director as well as a Director of Operations & Development.
Campaign Zero is hiring a Data Scientist.
Results for America is searching for a Director of Technology and Impact Systems.
Numina is seeking a Data Scientist and a Full Stack Software Engineer.
Redox is recruiting for numerous roles, including a Backend Software Engineer, Product Data Analyst and Data Analytics Engineer.
BlueLabs is looking for a Frontend Engineer.
NGP VAN is searching for a Senior Software Engineer.
Blue State currently has dozens of job openings, including a Digital Designer, UX Designer and Data Engineer.
Ad Hoc is seeking a Senior UX Designer.
Capella Space is recruiting a Data Science Intern.
Like BetaNYC’s work?
Consider donating $22 to our 2022 campaign to support employment opportunities for Civic Innovation Fellows and Apprentices to grow with us.
Join our community on:
See you next month! Peace, openness and gratitude 🗽
— BetaNYC