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A promotional graphic titled “What’s New in NYC Civic Tech? Week 30 of 2025.” The background shows an indoor event space with floral decorations, branches with tags hanging, and people in the background. A white box in the center lists four civic tech headlines in blue text: “CUNY visualizes primary election data!” “Can we vote for a unified City map?” “What should be the next Mayor’s tech agenda?” “Digital and data literacy events!” At the bottom, the text reads: “Curated by BetaNYC an

What’s New in NYC Civic Tech – July 24, 2025

Gabby Langston

Thank you, readers!

We’re deep in prep mode for CityCamp NYC—our community unconference where you’re not just an attendee, but also a participant. It’s a space to network, learn, collaborate, and build community together! 

Over the next month, we will reorganize our community platforms to better facilitate ongoing conversations around policy, datasets, tools, and design practices. While the news around us—both domestically and internationally—f’ing sucks, we remain focused on what we can build together. We still have power to shape a better tomorrow. For the past seven months, we’ve held tight to that belief.

This is Pa’lante! This is Excelsior!

Come to CityCamp NYC and discuss the following topics!

The NYC Board of Elections has released data from the June 24, 2025, Primary Election. And CUNY Mapping Service just published its maps. If you make maps or visualizations, share your insights with us on BlueSky or in Slack.

NYC’s Charter Revision also finalized its proposals. This November, voters will see five questions on the ballot that address fast-tracking affordable housing, simplifying project approvals, creating a housing appeals board, introducing municipal elections in presidential election years, and—perhaps most exciting for map enthusiasts—modernizing the City Map. The proposal gives City Planning four years to deliver a unified digital map of New York City.

If you’re looking for thoughtful analysis, check out recent coverage from THE CITY, WNYC, City & State, The New York Times, and Crain’s New York Business. Ben Max also has an excellent hour-long podcast that breaks down the proposals in detail.

As we look ahead, it’s time to ask: what should be the Mayor’s tech agenda? 

We have a history of answering that question. Our early gatherings led to the creation of The People’s Roadmap to a Digital New York City. This document helped shape lasting changes—from publishing the City Record online and improving FOIL, to strengthening digital service teams and expanding the City’s open data and API policies. Today, industry groups like Tech:NYC are continuing to push for similar priorities, including smart procurement, improved service delivery, data-driven governance, and stronger digital literacy.

Democracy works best when diverse individuals share ideas, collaborate, and make informed recommendations. These are also our goals for CityCamp NYC. If you need childcare, we have you covered! Join us on Saturday, September 6, to network, inform, and build NYC’s public interest tech ecosystem for the next generation.

Pa’lante! Excelsior!

— Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director

Upcoming Events with BetaNYC 🎊

Community Resources 📚  

  • A Look Back at Civic Tech’s Roots: This insightful piece revisits the early days of civic tech and asks what the field has gained, and lost, over time.
  • ICE Reporting, Now in Spanish: To better serve immigrant communities, 404 Media is translating its ICE surveillance reporting into Spanish. (NOTE: no paywall!)
  • Run an LLM on Your Laptop: Curious about using AI tools without the cloud? Here’s how to run a large language model right on your personal device.
  • A Decentralized Web, in Practice: This site showcases peer-to-peer publishing in action—exploring how the internet might look without centralized platforms.
  • Digital Grief in Focus: A new zine invites reflections on how we mourn, remember, and navigate loss in digital spaces. Submit your work by August 15.
  • The “Clanker” Controversy in Star Wars: A new debate in the Star Wars fandom explores whether the term “clanker” is a problematic slur, and what it says about sci-fi storytelling.

This Week in NYC Civic Tech 🗽

This Week in Data, Tech, & Gov News 🏛️

  • Federal Workers Speak Out on Agency Cuts and Public Service: This audio series from Federal Workers Against DOGE spotlights firsthand accounts from current and former federal employees, spanning agencies such as the FAA, CDC, EPA, IRS and more.
  • ICE’s Expanding Data Network: A new investigation from The Guardian illustrates how ICE is amassing vast datasets to expand surveillance and deportations—raising urgent ethical and legal questions.

Artificial Intelligence 🤖

  • AI for Justice, and its Moral Imperative: What does a values-based approach to AI look like? Baratunde Thurston and the Financial Times explore what ethical AI might require from governments and designers.
  • Do AI Summaries Change How We Click? New research from Pew Research Center finds people are less likely to click on links when AI-generated summaries show up in Google search—sparking debates about access, attention, and trust.
  • A Tech Reporter’s Take on AI and Journalism: Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell shares a critique of how AI might reshape reporting, and who benefits from it.

Election 2025 🗳️

  • What TechNYC Wants from the Next Mayor: TechNYC lays out their wishlist for the 2025 mayoral race, focused on digital literacy, digital equity, workforce development and innovation-friendly regulation.
  • Mamdani Meets with Business Leaders: Mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is engaging with tech and business executives to build relationships and clarify his platforms.
  • City-Owned Grocery Stores? Mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is calling for publicly owned grocery stores in NYC, but Gothamist reports that a few are already operating.

Jobs Alert and Announcements 💼 

Upcoming Events 📅

Note: All times are listed in EDT

There’s something powerful about taking time to learn how your city really works, and how we can make it better together. At BetaNYC, we’re working toward a more transparent, equitable and people-powered New York through public interest technology.

If you believe in that mission, pitch in today at beta.nyc/donate. 

Want to sponsor this newsletter or 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!