Greetings everyone; wishing you a Happy Hispanic Heritage Month & Deaf Awareness Month, plus a wonderful new school year! While summer may be winding down, our work continues to flourish. Call for proposals are now open for NYC School of Data and Open Data Week! Additionally, we published a preview of what is on November’s ballot and what local media outlets we’re reading.
In a heartfelt celebration, we say congratulations to our cherished family member, Kate Nicholson, who has been an incredible Director of Programs and Partnerships for over five amazing years. Kate’s dedication to fostering our public interest tech community and leading citywide efforts to bridge data literacy gap has made an everlasting impact. We’re grateful for everything you’ve done, Kate! Wishing you all the success and happiness for your exciting new adventure.
— BetaNYC ❤️
Special Announcements 🫶
NYC Open Data Week 2025 call for proposals is open!
The NYC Open Data Team, BetaNYC, and Data through Design invite you to submit a proposal to Open Data Week, NYC School of Data, or Data Through Design. If Open Data and public interest tech are your jam, we want to know! Share your ideas at open-data.nyc.
What’s New at BetaNYC? 📊
This Friday: Discover NYC Open Data! Join us for a fun NYC Open Data exploration this Friday at 12pm. Don’t miss out on this fun data journey — beginners are welcome!
What Local Media Are You Consuming? We’re 60+ days away from Nov’s election, and now is the time to use your talents, ingenuity, and skills to shape the future. Our Executive Director has outlined media the team is consuming, ballot proposals you SHOULD research, and how you can participate in NYC’s democracy on a daily basis. Let’s get to work!
Btw, NYC Council Committee on Technology’s is having an oversight hearing on MyCity. This is an important hearing to understand the future digital service design in New York City. Your voice always matters! Sign up to testify today.
Our Fellowship Team spread the word on Mapping for Equity! Our Fellowship Team had a busy month as they introduced their Mapping for Equity project to Transportation Alternatives and community organizers at the inaugural McCarren Park Stakeholders meeting, hosted and organized by Council Member Lincoln Restler and his team. We’re nearly done micromapping Brooklyn Community Board 1’s Parks, Playgrounds, and NYCHA public spaces into Open Street Map. If you are curious to learn more about Mapping for Equity, check out this interview they did with CUNY TV!
Support our Work: Donate Today
Like this newsletter and what we do? Donate to our 2024 campaign.
Your support will allow us to continue building NYC’s public interest technology community through events such as Open Data Week, School of Data, and Open Data Ambassadors!
Community News, Events and Announcements
Submit to this list to have your picks featured in next month’s newsletter.
Legislative Updates 🏛️
Updates about NYC and Governance
The NYC Council Committee on Technology’s MyCity Hearing: the NYC Council is seeking testimonies on MyCity. Sign up to testify and make your voice heard!
The Independent Budget Office stated in a report that NYC could save $42 million every other year by holding local elections at the same time as state and federal elections on even-numbered years.
These are the 2024 state legislative races to watch, according to City & State’s inside scoop.
The NYC Council passed a housing bill enabling tenants to report vacant apartments. This development comes in response to “warehousing” and an ongoing investigation by THE CITY.
Current and former state lawmakers argued in court papers that they did not give Governor Hochul the power to pause congestion pricing.
Citymeetings.nyc gets a UI makeover! Vikram Oberoi updated the platform, summarized in this post and newsletter.
Civic Tech Updates 👀
Projects and News from Community Members
SUNY Chancellor John B. King and CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez sat down with City & State NY to discuss how universities plan to prepare students for an AI world.
Recent 311 data illustrates that complaints of parking placard abuse by NYC employees have doubled in the past year.
Research from Transportation Alternatives and the NASA DEVELOP Environmental Justice team indicates that the city’s hottest bus stops are 14.5°F hotter than the coolest and tend to be in high-poverty communities of color.
JustFix debuted Who Owns What Building Alerts, which allows users to view complaints verified by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, among other vital issues.
Upcoming Events 📆
September 5 at 6pm This is me and only me by Giorgia Lupi and Madeleine Garner
September 6 at 12pm Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session
September 8 at 12pm Transit Techies #27: 2024 Bus Festival
September 10 at 7pm New York dbt meetup (IN-PERSON)
September 16 at 3pm Responsible Tech Summit
September 19 at 1pm NYC Council Committee on Technology hearing: Oversight – The “MyCity” Portal
September 22-29 Climate Week NYC
September 25 at 12:30pm Sustainable Communities: Managing Change, Innovating for Resilience
September 26 at 10am NEW CLIMATE FUTURES 2024: A Newlab Event
September 27-29 Hello From The Data Vandals (or free as air and water, or whatsoever things are true)
Announcements, Job Openings and Opportunities 📢
See Slack #Jobs for more
- CUNY is hiring a Chief Academic AI Officer.
- All Tech Is Human is hiring a Community Manager.
- Amtrak is hiring a Senior Director of Business Strategy & Tech Integration.
- The Civilian Complaint Review Board is recruiting a Data Analyst.
- Figma is seeking a Product Partnerships Manager, among other roles.
- The Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity is recruiting a Senior Research Associate.
- The Mayor’s Office of Operations is recruiting a Project Management Policy Analyst.
- Measures for Justice is searching for a Data Test Engineer I/II.
- The New York eHealth Collaborative is hiring a Data Scientist and IT Project Manager, among other roles.
- The NYC Department of Finance is seeking a Senior Policy Analyst.
- The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is hiring a Data Analyst and Project Coordinator.
- The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation is seeking an Emerging Technology Governance Manager.
- The Office of the First Deputy Mayor is hiring a Data Policy Advisor.
- Open House New York is looking for volunteers for the upcoming OHNY Weekend festival in October. Learn more and apply!
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month 🥳
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s honor these trailblazers from the Hispanic/Latinx/Latine community who have paved the road in STEM!
Kat Echazarreta is an electrical engineer and founder of Fundación Espacial Katya Echazarreta, an organization that makes space more accessible worldwide. She became the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space in 2022 aboard the Blue Origin’s NS-21 flight.
Albert Vinicio Báez was a physicist who was crucial in developing X-ray microscopes, X-ray optics, and X-ray telescopes. He also authored physics textbooks and made nearly 100 films on physics principles for the Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Niesha Butler is a former WNBA star, entrepreneur, and software engineer. She opened NYC’s first Afro-Latina-owned S.T.E.A.M. educational center, S.T.E.A.M. Champs. The organization aims to provide tech educational resources and reduce accessibility barriers to the tech sphere.
Join our community! 🚀
- Slack (View more job announcements in our Jobs Channel!)
- X/Twitter
- Threads
- NYC Civic Tech Facebook Group
- Mastodon
- Open Data Week (Call for proposals are live!)
- YouTube (Catch the latest School of Data and Open Data Week Videos!)
- Meetup
- GitHub
Want to add to this list? Submit to the next newsletter.
See you next month! Peace, openness, and gratitude 🗽