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What’s New in NYC Civic Tech – March 06, 2025

Gabby Langston

Before we kick things off, we pay our respects to Dr. Hazel Nell Dukes, a renowned civil rights activist and President of the NAACP New York State Conference. May we all have the tenacity to fight for youth and children as long as she did. Thank you for your service, Dr. Dukes!

Lastly, if you support an inclusive democracy and want to support this newsletter, we are sending out stickers as thank you gifts! These are the “No King <- Any Time ->” tickers you’ve seen on Bluesky.

There’s a lot to recap! Consequently, this week’s theme is broken into three parts: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

If you are a laid off federal worker looking to join our Empire State, the Governor is hiring! Currently, there are over 7,000 open positions. If your work is related to digital technologies, check out this LinkedIn post by Gabe Paley, NY Assistant Secretary for Technology. There are multiple immediate openings for senior tech leaders across the State. Now, more than ever, people are dependent on state and city IT services.

Tomorrow, the BetaNYC team will raise a glass of New York apple juice and toast the thirteenth anniversary of Local Law 11 of 2012. This law set the tone for the digital era we are in. It took a collection of good government groups, a very tenacious Council Member, plus two years of hearings, meetings, and wading through ridiculous arguments to finally get the Nation’s “Open Data” Law. For real! This is the first law passed by a legislature that states that FOIL-able information should be proactively published on a website and available for free!

Since 2012, this community has celebrated its passage annually with a gathering, party, or conference. For nearly a decade, we have collaborated with the City’s Open Data team to bring you Open Data Week! If you want to strengthen your skills, network with future employers, or just experience a bit of joy with like-minded New Yorkers (and a few out-of-towners), you NEED to make plans for Open Data Week, School of Data, and Data Through Design.

Here is the simple break down:

  1. Data Though Design (DxD) is an amazing art show at BRIC in Brooklyn. Eighteen artists have works on the theme Corpus: Bodies of Data. To kick off Open Data Week, DxD is hosting its opening reception on Friday, March 21. THIS WILL SELL OUT, AND YOU WILL HAVE MAJOR FOMO IF YOU MISS IT.
  2. Open Data Week (ODW) is a weeklong festival of community-driven events offering in-person and virtual opportunities. We kickoff each day with a virtual morning coffee profiling a presenter or someone who helps make NYC Open Data. Then, you have a chance to attend over 80 events or sessions! The preliminary schedule will be posted on March 7, Open Data Day!!
  3. School of Data (SoData) is ODW’s closing, in-person conference at CUNY School of Law in Queens. This year, we’ll have over 30 sessions, workshops, and panels. We just launched general admission and scholarship/hardship tickets. All attendees have access to free, professional, on-site childcare (registration required). Additionally, we’ll have ASL translation for all main-stage sessions. Afterward, there are plans for a happy hour nearby! (NOTE: If you are presenting at SoData, you will receive an email from us by the end of the week on how to register for SoData and information on how to view your session once it is published).
  4. This is Sunshine MONTH! If you want to strengthen our State’s access to government information, please call your state Senators and Assembly Members and ask them where they stand on these four bills. All, New Yorkers deserve stronger health data protections, learn from the EFF on how Governor Hochul can make this happen.

The Bad

Eric Adams’ reelection campaign has some serious accounting issues. – Politico

Former Governor Cuomo is literally worse than Mayor Adams. “Ask yourself what kind of “public servant” believes that continuing to go after these women in court is a better use of public money than investing in the state and in the city that he now hopes to serve as mayor.” – Lindsey Boylan in Vanity Fair, Andrew Cuomo for Mayor? His “First Accuser” Says New York City Deserves Better

“I want a mayoral race where we can have conversations about how best to fix the city’s problems, problems that have grown worse under Eric Adams. What frustrates me the most about Cuomo entering the race is that instead of being able to have that conversation, we’re going to spend the time talking about [expletive] Andrew Cuomo because that’s what Andrew Cuomo wants us to do. We all deserve better than this race, and the city deserves better.” – Cooper Lund

Then, David Meyer from StreetsBlog NYC has a great rundown on Cuomo’s disastrous record on City Transportation.

The Ugly

If you are helping people on fixed incomes, please prepare for rough economic times. The most shocking news article of the past week has been about Social Security, and I’m not talking about the debunked data around 150-year-olds getting checks. I’m talking about people seeing an interruption in benefits.

Additionally, Medicaid is on the chopping block. The single greatest health care program that supports children, pregnant people, and people who are blind or who have disabilities. Our friend Sasha Costanza-Chock (@schock.cc) has shared a thread on how to fight for Medicaid.

Next, many local news outlets have rounded up how the Federal Administration’s illegal budget cuts will affect our local communities. (See these pieces from Gothamist and THE CITY). Nationally, data models are starting to project a recession.

For those of you who work with economic models, Abigail Andre posted on LinkedIn a few tools to help track these budget cuts. She shared three forms collecting stories and articles.

The Federal Reserve of Atlanta’s data projection is looking grim. GDPNow, an economic tool from the Atlanta Fed, has their GDP forecast jumping from nearly 4% at the start of February to nearly -3% at the end. (H/T Carl Quintanilla, CNBC).

At the end of last week, Robin Hood updated their report on poverty in New York City, and it states that 1 in 4 people are living in poverty. This is higher than the pre-pandemic pause. While many point to housing costs as the main contributor, Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for policy and program development at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a federal think tank, says “taking away people’s food assistance, their access to healthcare coverage, taking away cash from them…will make poverty worse.”

Let’s take a step back. I’m not saying there will be a crash or we will head into a recession. I am saying that the economic stability we had over the last few years is gone.

If you’re looking to support your neighbors, check out MutualAid.nyc or contact the Food Bank for New York City. They have a diverse array of volunteer opportunities. My uncles have long supported SAGE. If you want to network and support LGBTQ+ elders, SAGE is the best. If you want to stay focused on your technical skills, reach out to US Digital Response. There is no better time to prepare for the future than now! NOW is the time to build relationships to help our neighbors.

Looking Ahead: June 25, 2025, Primary Day

In closing, City Council Speaker Adams gave her final State of City address and said New York needs “partnership over patriarchy.” Last night, she announced her Mayoral campaign. (Note: We’re a 501c3 and do not endorse any candidate.) As this speech lays out the Council’s budget fight, it is important to note the initiatives she spoke about. Here is the Council’s recorded livestream and coverage from THE CITY and Gothamist.

Sending you light and love.

— Noel Hidalgo

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