Greetings everyone! To kickoff, we say evello notitia—come celebrate, connect, and be inspired!
Spring is here (yes 🌷!), and so is Open Data Week—the week that reminds us why we do this work. For the next nine days, it is the time to lean in, find joy, and stand in solidarity with each other. As Grace Lee Boggs said, “The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.”
If you’re looking for good news, you’re in the right place! We’re fortunate to be part of an inclusive community where people build, map, and share tools that engage with the city meaningfully. And right now, that work is more important than ever.
Whether you’re expanding your network or simply getting inspired by new projects and collaborations, this is your week to show up. Let us make everlasting friendships.
This week, we join the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation and Data Through Design to kick off NYC Open Data Week 2025. It’s a moment to reflect on the 13 years of the City’s open data law and its power to inform, inspire, and drive change.
As we celebrate, we’re excited to share that our very own Jazzy Smith was recently elected to the OpenStreetMap Board! Congratulations Jazzy!!! Also, Jazzy was invited by the American Geographical Society to present for the Mapping for Women’s Empowerment theme of the month, speaking to AP Human Geography teachers about the TeenMaptivists Initiative, a humanitarian open-source mapping program engaging twenty high schools. If you’re looking to catch up with Jazzy, she and her colleague Naeema Haque will be hosting an event at Open Data Week! 🗺️ Join them on Thursday, March 27, at 7 pm as they debut the Mapping for Equity Toolkit.
Throughout NYC Open Data Week, there will be more opportunities to learn, connect, and get inspired! Events are happening across the city, ranging from workshops, panels, hackathons, and exhibitions—where you can dive deeper into how open data is shaping our communities. Whether you’re interested in civic tech, linguistic diversity, mapping with sandwiches, government transparency, or creative data storytelling, there’s something for everyone! Be sure to check out the full schedule and find the sessions that spark your curiosity. This is the perfect time to explore new projects, meet fellow data enthusiasts, and celebrate the collective power of open data!
Tomorrow at 6:30 pm, Data Through Design is holding a pre-festival launch party at BRIC for the Corpus: Bodies of Data exhibition. 🎨 Tickets are sold out, and the event is at capacity, but if you didn’t reserve yours, no fear! The gallery will be open every day from Saturday, March 22, to Sunday, April 6, from 12-7 pm. Bring your friends, loved ones, and colleagues!
On Saturday, March 29, the celebrations continue at NYC School of Data! Join us at CUNY School of Law; we’ll have 30+ sessions that demystify the policies and practices surrounding open data, public interest technology, and service design. 🎒 Register today and check out the schedule! We also have ASL translation upon request, free on-site childcare, scholarships, and solidarity tickets– which help to support scholarships.
Looking ahead, SmartCity Expo NYC is offering this community a FREE ticket worth $1,495 if you use our discount code. Subscribe to BetaNYC’s newsletter via email for the link. 🎟️ Also, we’re planning a summer unconference focused on tools for liberation and city living! We’re bringing back CityCamp, the unconference. Stay tuned for details!
For now, let’s make the most of this week. Let’s make new friends, discover inspiring projects, and celebrate the power of this community. See you throughout the week! Whether it’s at NYC Open Data Week, School of Data, or Data Through Design, we look forward to connecting with you. 💗
By the way, what’s your favorite NYC fact or data point? Reply to this message with a fact and source and we’ll feature it in future newsletters!
With love and light,
— Noel Hidalgo and Gabrielle Langston
Community Resources 📚
- It Is Not Enough to Fight. You Have to Meet the Moment – Sherrilyn Ifill
- Hate doesn’t make anything great – devthepineapple
- on mass media and the public sphere – Dhananjay Jagannathan
- ‘Will I Lose My Job?’ Federal Workers Flock to Reddit for Answers – Kashmir Hill
- Inside the DOGE Threat to Social Security – E. Tammy Kim
- How Bribes Helped a Crime Ring Steal Thousands of iPhones From Porches – Esther Fung
- Sunshine Week Press Conference 2025 (03/18/25) – New York Coalition for Open Government
- The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism – Alberto Toscano
This Week in NYC Civic Tech 🗽
- BP Richards announces record-breaking 912 applications for Queens community boards – Czarinna Andres — Shoutout to our Civic Innovation Lab for working with the Queens Borough President to make this happen!
- How Eric Adams’s MyCity Portal Became a $100 Million Question Mark – Zachary Groz
- NYC comptroller debate: a war of the wonks – Annie McDonough
- A New Map Tracks the Growth of NYC’s Community Land Trusts – Eliana Perozo
- Middle-income New Yorkers are the new face of eviction in the city, report finds – Arun Venugopal
- Trump to MTA: Give us NYC subway safety plan, or risk losing funds – Ramsey Khalifeh
- Foot Traffic Data Shows New Yorkers Aren’t Avoiding Manhattan After Congestion Pricing – Dave Colon
- NYC DOT Reduces Speed Limits in New ‘Regional Slow Zones’ Across the City – NYC Department of Transportation
- Commuters rally at City Hall to support funding NYC subway and transit improvements: ‘We have to fix it now’ – Barbara Russo-Lennon
- Gridlock Sam: Trucks Aren’t Rerouting into the Bronx or Staten Island to Avoid Congestion Pricing – Dave Colon
- Explaining every faction in Queens politics, a borough of extremes – Sophie Krichevsky
- Queens Borough President opens applications for Community Education Council seats – By Athena Dawson
This Week in Gov Watch 🏛️
- JFK Assassination Records – 2025 Documents Release – The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
- ‘Segregated facilities’ are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts – Selena Simmons-Duffin
- Can NASA remain nonpartisan when basic spaceflight truths are shredded? – Eric Berger
- Your Guide to the 2025 State Budget Fight – New York Focus
- The Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge – Julian Lucas
- Federal cuts could slash $1B in food benefits, cash assistance for New Yorkers – Caroline Spivack
- US tries to keep DOGE and Musk work secret in appeal of court-ordered discovery – Jon Brodkin
- Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow – Freedom of the Press Foundation
- Newsom sends prepaid phones, aka ‘burners,’ to tech CEOs – Jeremy B. White
- Judge Orders Education Dept. to Restore Some Grants to Schools – Zach Montague
Jobs Alert and Announcements 💼
- The Council on Foreign Relations is searching for a Data Visuals Designer.
- The Department of City Planning is hiring a Zoning Application Portal Product Owner.
- The New York State Digital Service is recruiting for several roles based in NYC and Albany.
- The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is seeking an Executive Director.
- Vital City is recruiting a Policy Director.
Upcoming Events 📅
Note: All times are listed in EDT
- March 21 to April 6 Data Through Design’s Corpus: Bodies of Data
- March 22 to 30 NYC Open Data Week
- March 24 at 6 pm 2025 Mayoral Candidates Forum with Preservation Organizations
- March 29 NYC School of Data (General admission and scholarship tickets now available!)
- April 2 at 5:15 pm ATIH Author Series: a conversation with Jessica Elefante, author of Raising Hell, Living Well
- April 2 to 3 Smart City Expo USA
- April 17 at 4 pm Techonomy @ Civic Hall: An AI Conversation
- April 23 at 1:30 pm CS3 VALIDATE Accelerator Demo Day
- June 19 to 21 State of the Map US, Boston
- June 10 to 11 TICTeC 2025, Mechelen, Belgium and Online
- November 12 to 14 2025 Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference
Want to sponsor this newsletter or to be featured in future ones? Share your community resources, projects, events, and anything else happening so we can feature them in future posts.
What did you think of today’s newsletter? We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas. Reply to this message. Take care of each other, and have a great weekend! 👋🏾