Congratulations Mayor-Elect Mamdani,
We’re here to help you build digital services with your neighbors, empower OTI, grow NYC Digital Service, modernize 311 and data plumbing, protect privacy, invest in digital equity and literacy, and launch a CUNY public-interest tech apprenticeship!!
Here are eight key takeaways to help make government technology and innovation work for your administration. We’ve expanded on them further down in the document.
- Empower OTI with a clear mandate around improving digital service delivery across agencies.
- Scale NYC Digital Service and prioritize service design roles embedded with line agencies.
- Modernize 311 as the city’s front door; unify intake, status, and feedback loops.
- Standardize data plumbing (shared schemas, APIs, interoperability, and service levels).
- Stand up an Open Source Program Office and adopt secure, reusable code citywide.
- Enforce privacy-by-design and advance the Internet Master Plan to close access gaps.
- Fund digital and data literacy partnerships with community groups across age groups.
- Launch a CUNY PIT Apprenticeship (2-year) focused on AI, GIS, community data, and service delivery.
Public interest technology is solidarity in action. No one does this work alone; when our mission and tools are aligned, we move forward together.
Our core values—connection, learning, innovation, and creativity—shape our programs, analysis, tools, curriculum, and events.
We share your optimism, faith, and love for this city.
Our work at BetaNYC has always centered on optimism, faith, truth, and service. Never have we shied away from the intersectional nature of technology, society, and service delivery. To build technology for the public interest, we must center equality, inclusion, harm reduction, and restorative justice. We know you understand these values.
Hire talented service designers, technologists, and analysts: To enact the campaign promises you’ve outlined, you will need talented service designers, technologists, and analysts drawn from the full diversity of New York. We need digital services to work for people, wherever they are, whenever they need them, and regardless of the platform.
Hire a competent CTO: Second, we need an Office of Technology and Innovation that truly embraces technology and innovation. We need a CTO who can collaborate with civic technologists, coordinate across agencies, foster competition within the industry, and balance priorities effectively. We need a CTO who loves New York, its civil servants, and is willing to break institutional silos.
Build up NYC Digital Services Organization: Third, you will need to build up the existing NYC Digital Services team and hire public interest technology leaders with a focus on service design. Putting people first is how you maximize every dollar spent on talent, code, and infrastructure.
Modernizing procurement, insourcing talent, and code: Fundamentally, we need government technology services and policies to work for the people who need them the most. And sometimes, the needs of the few will outweigh the needs of the many. Modernizing procurement, insourcing talent and code, while institutionalizing service design practices, will ensure your policies are implemented appropriately.
Invest in government data systems: Your administration will need clean, interoperable data. You will need simple interfaces to collect that data. You are blessed with the nation’s best municipal data operations. These practices and teams need continuous investment. We invite you to join us in March for NYC Open Data Week and NYC School of Data.
Make NYC 311 work for you! NYC 311 is a powerful tool for breaking down agency silos and standardizing the flow of information across agencies. When you spoke to Businessweek about making forms better, this is the work.
Embrace open-source while strengthening cybersecurity: Every “tech” dollar should build local capacity. We need to see our municipal gov-tech stack adopt secure, reusable code. Establishing an open-source programs office while modernizing the application development and cybersecurity teams will create a lasting impact. Let us hold our code to the same standards as we hold our employees.
Privacy-by-design and bridge the digital divide: We need an administration that cares about digital privacy, fights for it, and implements the Internet Master Plan.
Embrace digital, data, and AI literacy: We need digital equity to mean more than pipes. We need bridges for digital and data literacy to coexist within communities and across multiple age groups. We need a true-biz conversation on how artificial intelligence can help, AND how it is hurting.
Center CUNY students as public interest technology leaders: Finally, our CUNY students have much to offer this administration and our technology and data ecosystem. We have proposed a two-year apprenticeship program in public interest technology to train students in AI, data collection and analysis, GIS, and community organizing. YES, community organizing!
Today, the city lacks clean, consistent data on basic public-realm assets, including benches, bike racks, curb cuts, lamp posts, crosswalks, and trash cans. The conditions of pedestrian and bike paths are only known to those who traverse them. BetaNYC has a decade of experience teaching CUNY students and neighbors to collect this data while building digital and data literacy. Let us put this capacity to work!
New Yorkers deserve services that are simple, secure, and equitable. We are excited to build with you.
PS – We’re glad to see you’re using Airtable to collect resumes!
Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director of BetaNYC
Community Recommendations:
As I said, no one does this work alone. Here is a collection of additional recommendations for govtech, procurement, service design, and digital equity. If anyone wants to add their voice to this list, please email Noel Hidalgo at noel@beta.nyc.
Link to Google Sheet.