Our hearts are with our public interest tech and open data colleagues in the Los Angeles region. If we hear about how we can provide mutual aid, we will share it in the BetaNYC #general slack channel.
Happy New Year, Happy Lunar New Year, and new state legislative session! Starting next week, we will modify our communications and add a streamlined weekly newsletter to your inbox. Those of you on LinkedIn have gotten a preview of our new newsletter. Why? As the only NYC-focused public interest tech newsletter, we are dedicated to keeping you informed. Additionally, we are in a critical time with a federal government transition, citywide elections, and social media sites removing fact-checking or moderation. (By the way, danah boyd has a great op-ed on this.)
Collectively, we are facing a tumultuous year, and you have a unique opportunity to shape the future. By staying focused and informed, we can break through the era of misinformation. Our New Year’s resolution is to be a communal place that provides you with accurate and reliable information.
As we’ve said, optimism, faith, truth, service, and love are how we build a more perfect union. And we do this in our community! Borough Presidents and the Department of Education have encouraged residents to participate in their respective hyper-local bodies. On Monday, you can apply to be in consideration to serve on the city’s Community and City Education Councils or CECs. Read more about this process in Chalkbeat NY. Additionally, community boards help shape agency resources delivered to your community. Applications are currently open for Brooklyn and Queens and are open year-round in Staten Island. (Manhattan and The Bronx will open shortly. Read last year’s primer from THE CITY.)
Later this year, there will be citywide elections. In the meantime, YOU have a unique opportunity to engage with citywide candidates. If you scour Reddit or Bluesky, you will find opportunities to meet candidates in your neighborhood at low-dollar fundraisers. Also, many of these campaigns are desperate for volunteers. If you’re interested in shaping our citywide elections, now is the time to learn about the candidates, volunteer, and attend fundraisers. Early voting starts on Saturday, June 14th, and Primary Election Day is Tuesday, June 24th. If you’re over 18 and a registered NYC voter, consider working the polls.
On the last bright note of the New Year, CONGESTION PRICING IS THE LAW! After years of advocacy, we will finally see dedicated funding to modernize signals and increase accessibility. And according to initial traffic data, the program has ALREADY started to alleviate congestion in Manhattan. Be sure to catch our Legislative Updates section for additional news recap of this historic event!
Sending you love and light. Take care,
BetaNYC ❤️
Special Announcements 🫶
We have our first BetaNYC Tote Bag Winner!
Congratulations to Shelly Ronen, the first winner of our stylish BetaNYC tote bag! You can enter to win one by sharing your thoughts about our newsletters. In the meantime, here’s what Shelly has to say!
“I do love BetaNYC’s newsletters. I love knowing what’s happening in my city, and what fellow civic tech nerds are thinking about!”
Discovering NYC Open Data classes are back!
The next one is Wednesday, February 5, at 6 pm. Check out the full NYC Open Data Ambassadors program schedule at nyc.gov/discoveropendata!
Join us at the Open Data Week Winter Meetup!
The NYC Open Data Week team and Data Through Design are hosting a winter meetup event! Mark your calendars for the Winter Open Data Week Happy Hour in Downtown Brooklyn on Thursday, January 30, from 5 to 8 pm. Everyone is welcome; feel free to bring your friends!
What’s New at BetaNYC? 📊
Noel was appointed to COPIC!
Last month, Noel Hidalgo, our Executive Director, was nominated by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to represent him on the City’s Commission on Public Information and Communications (COPIC).
Spreading the word on the School Budget Dashboard!
Ashley and Audrey led a workshop hosted by the Education Council Consortium. They gave a walkthrough on using the dashboard to derive insights into a school’s budget data. Watch their full presentation here!
School of Data and Open Data Week digital equity!
BetaNYC will receive funds from Governor Hochul’s ConnectALL initiative as part of the New York State Digital Equity Plan. This support allows us to highlight organizations and activists dedicated to advancing digital equity. Are you part of an organization with a mission of digital equity? We invite you to showcase your work, connect with like-minded advocates, and demonstrate how digital literacy and open data can encourage communities to thrive in the digital age. Join us in building a more inclusive festival! For more details, please visit our digital equity webpage.
Support our Work: Donate Today
Thank you for reading our newsletters. Each edition is made possible by a small team and dedicated readers like YOU! With your help, we can sustain these newsletters and be a guiding light. Join us today and light a path for public interest tech.
Community News, Events and Announcements
Submit to this list to have your picks featured in next month’s newsletter.
Community Resources 📚
Here are our must-reads — curated by you!
Volunteer for the 20th annual HOPE survey – HOPE 2025
How to Share Memorable Data – Christopher Laubenthal
Data Stewardship Trends of 2024 – The Data Tank
How Understanding Data Sovereignty Mitigates Risks for Governments – Government Technology
The Local Government Staffers We Need and Deserve – Caitlin Lewis and Grace Rauh
Open-Government Nonprofits Are Dying Off Just When They’re Needed Most – Daniel Schuman
Legislative Updates 🏛️
Updates about NYC and Governance
Congestion Pricing is live in NYC! This past weekend, the Congestion Pricing Plan went into effect, receiving extensive news coverage amid celebrations. The New York Times interviewed Noel, fellow activists, and opponents. THE CITY captured some commuters’ initial reactions and compiled an FAQ about the program. City & State NY sat down with Noel and fellow public transit enthusiasts. Streetsblog’s Gersh Kuntzman reported live from the jubilant celebrations, which are also featured in this montage.
City & State NY has some powerful takeaways from Mayor Adams’ fourth State of the City speech.
The NYC Council Committee on Technology is holding a hearing on the 311 customer service center and tree pruning-related service requests.
Governor Hochul signed the LOADinG Act into law. Read the bill here, and catch the statement from New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez.
What happened to the remaining state bills? City & State NY has a recap of the bills Governor Hochul signed and vetoed at the end of 2024.
City of Yes is the law in NYC: Last month, Mayor Adams signed the ‘City of Yes’ legislation. amNY has a recap of the bill signing ceremony and the next steps.
Civic Tech Updates 👀
Projects and News from Community Members
BoardStat, our NYC 311 dashboard for community boards, has been updated for 2025!
Phishing scams continue to be on the rise. There have been incidents of toll phishing regarding congestion pricing, and recently, New York State Attorney General Letitia James is aiming to recover $2.2 million for people robbed by phishing scams.
Where do the 2025 NYC mayoral candidates stand? Gothamist launched a policy tracker for the 2025 NYC mayoral candidates.
Census experts are sounding the alarms on state redistricting and counting efforts ahead of the 2030 Census.
The NYC Office of Technology & Innovation did a recap of their 2024 achievements and compiled their recent news appearances.
How has congestion pricing impacted NYC commutes? The Congestion Pricing Tracker visualizes vehicle travel times across 19 routes before and after congestion pricing went into effect. Joshua Moshes and Benjamin Moshes launched the dashboard under the supervision of Brown University Professor Emily Oster.
The NYC Department of Environmental Protection is seeking ideas related to the measurement and management of sound. View their RFEI and learn more about the initiative.
Session recordings are now available for Code for America’s FormFest 2024! You can also check out their event recap.
Abu Nayeem took a deep dive into Blocked Bike Lane Service Requests with a 311 Blocked Bike Lane Dashboard and a Jupyter notebook. Check them out!
Upcoming Events 📆
January 14 at 1 pm Fireside Chat with Mike Gifford: Accessibility in Government
January 23 at 6 pm MTA’s Open Data Stories
January 24-25 Mapping USA 2025
January 25 at 9 am Climate Power Workshop
January 25 at 12 pm Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Wikipedia Day 2025
January 30 at 5 pm Winter Open Data Week Meetup
February 5 at 6 pm Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session
February 19 at 10 am NYC Council Committee on Technology Hearing
March 21-April 6 Data Through Design’s Corpus: Bodies of Data
March 22 to 30 NYC Open Data Week
March 29 NYC School of Data
June 19-21 State of the Map US, Boston
Announcements, Job Openings and Opportunities 📢
See Slack #Jobs for more
- The City of Syracuse’s Office of Analytics, Performance, and Innovation is searching for a Data Program Manager.
- CUNY Tech Prep’s 2025-2026 cohort applications are now open!
- Fordham University is recruiting a Director of Data Management and Integrity.
- GovWell has numerous open roles, including a Founding Backend Engineer.
- The Information is Beautiful Awards 2024 submission is open until January 31.
- The Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice is hiring a Program Manager.
- New America is accepting applications for their Class of 2026 Fellows through February 3, 2025.
- The NYC Department of Education is seeking a Data Analyst.
- The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation is seeking a Chief Operating Officer.
- The Office of Regulatory Compliance & Accountability is recruiting a Data Research Analyst.
Join our community! 🚀
- Slack (View more job announcements in our Jobs Channel!)
- Bluesky
- Threads
- NYC Civic Tech Facebook Group
- Mastodon
- Open Data Week
- 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.
Header Image Credit: “NYC Snow” by Studio Sarah Lou is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
See you next month! Peace, openness, and gratitude 🗽