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Blue-tinted group photo of community members outdoors with large headline text: “This week in NYC’s #CivicTech — Week 8 of 2026.” A rounded white box lists bullet points: “Sunshine on the horizon. Read BetaNYC’s 2025 year in review. Learn about Humanity AI. NAVA PBC launches a new apprenticeship. Du Bois Visualization Challenge for 2026 is open. Jobs, Events, and more!”

This week in NYC’s #CivicTech – February 19, 2026

Gabby Langston

Hello friends,

We’re holding a mix of emotions this week. There’s real excitement building across our community, and at the same time, many of us are navigating uncertainty and heaviness in the broader moment (all while trudging through the late-winter slump). If you’re feeling both energized and tired, hopeful and concerned, please know you’re not alone.

First, we have some sunshine on the horizon!!!

The NYC School of Data 2026 programming will be going live soon! This gathering has always been a reminder that even in complicated times, people continue to come together to share knowledge and build toward the public good. If you haven’t already, bookmark schoolofdata.nyc and keep checking back as we announce sessions and the schedule takes shape. (Did you see that early bird tickets are on sale?)

New Community Spotlight!

Starting next week, we’ll launch a new newsletter section: Public Interest Technologist of the Month. So many people in this community quietly give their time, talent, and care to make systems more humane and accessible. This feature is our way of highlighting them, and to remind ourselves that progress is powered by people, not just platforms.

And this week, we’re also taking a moment to reflect.

Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away earlier this week. Many remember him for his leadership in the civil rights movement. He also spoke about access to technology as one of the defining equity issues of our time, recognizing that digital inclusion would shape who has a voice, opportunity, and power in the decades ahead.

In later years, he also worked to repair his relationship with the Jewish community, modeling the difficult work of accountability and reconciliation. That part of his legacy feels especially important right now. Building a more just society isn’t only about new tools or better data. It’s about relationships, humility, and the willingness to keep reaching toward one another, even when it’s hard.

As we move forward together, planning gatherings, lifting community voices, and doing the daily work of public interest technology, we’re holding onto that balance: making space for joy and connection while caring for one another. Together, we shape the world we want to live in. 

Thank you for being part of this community and for continuing to show up with thoughtfulness, courage, and care. 

We hope to see you at BetaBagels next week and School of Data next month!

In solidarity,

Gabrielle Langston & Noel Hidalgo

Support BetaNYC Today! 💗

Last year, we hosted 21 Mapping for Equity events across all five boroughs, training 289 New Yorkers to map public amenities in OpenStreetMap. That’s community power turning local knowledge into public data anyone can use.

Help us keep saying yes in 2026: more community mapping events, more digital literacy, and more open data that improves real lives.

Join us in reaching our goal of 200 sustaining donors: https://beta.nyc/donate 

What’s New at BetaNYC? 🚀

  • BetaNYC’s Impact: 2025 End of the Year Report. We published a snapshot of how our community used civic design, open data, and public interest technology to strengthen New York City in 2025. Take a look!
  • Community Board applications are still open in The Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island! Missed our latest BetaBagels? It’s a quick, friendly primer on how to get involved. Jump in now, because deadlines are coming up soon.
  • NYC School of Data is going big for our 10-year anniversary: we’re having a two-day program! Early bird registration is open, with single-day tickets now available, and we’re also seeking volunteers to support both days.

Upcoming Events with BetaNYC 🎊

Flyer with a close-up sesame bagel background and the headline ‘BetaBagels.’ Text reads: ‘A Fireside Chat with NYC Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, Chair of the Committee on Technology.’ Event details: ‘11:30am Friday, February 27.’ Registration: ‘beta.nyc/betabagels014.’
Flyer for an upcoming event with the Common Ground, featuring images of four panelists and a moderator. Event details: Friday, March 20 2:45PM-3:45PM EST.

Election Corner 2026 🗳️

  • A looming grid crunch: New York is gearing up for a data-center boom and debating who pays for the massive electricity demand and infrastructure strain it brings. Governor Hochul wants tech companies to pay more to draw from New York’s power grid.
  • City Hall politics, real community stakes: An Intelligencer piece explores the relationship between Mayor Mamdani and NYC’s Black community, including representation in appointments and deeper anxieties tied to housing and political power. (Paywall)

This Week’s Media Watchlist 🎥

  • A new on-ramp to civic tech careers: Nava PBC and the State of Maryland’s Department of Labor launched a registered apprenticeship aimed at giving emerging engineers mentorship and real project experience.

Artificial Intelligence Roundup 🤖

  • Grant award for people-centered AI: MacArthur awarded $10M to Humanity AI, a philanthropic push to shape AI “by and for people,” with grants spanning democracy, education, labor, security, and culture. Also, congrats to our colleagues at Data and Society Institute!
  • Cautionary tale on validating your AI results: A journalist shows how easy it can be to seed convincing falsehoods online and get AI systems to repeat them.

Data Privacy Watch 🔐

  • When “anonymous” isn’t anonymous: An anonymously sourced New York Times report says DHS has used administrative subpoenas to seek identifying info from major platforms about accounts critical of ICE, raising civil-liberties and free-speech concerns.
  • Inside the Blair-tech pipeline: A New Statesman investigation examines the Tony Blair Institute’s tech evangelism, including ties to Oracle founder Larry Ellison and concerns around data-driven government modernization.

Jobs Alert and Announcements 💼 

Upcoming Events 📅

Note: All times are listed in ET

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. 

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Take care of each other, and have a great weekend!