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Group photo of BetaNYC community members with a blue overlay and large headline text reading, “This week in NYC’s #CivicTech” and “Week 10 of 2026.” A rounded text box lists bullet points: “Revisit our latest BetaBagels with Council Member De La Rosa,” “Latest updates for School of Data and UnSchool of Data—registration plus schedules!,” “Check out the NYC Open Data Week festival program, and Data Through Design’s Opening Reception!,” and “Civictech news, jobs, events, and more!”

This week in NYC’s #CivicTech – March 5, 2026

Gabby Langston

Hello friends,

Our work is fundamentally built on dialogue. When we talk to our neighbors, we can discover a whole new world. Together, our shared experiences help us grow. Solidarity is combining all of this into care, action, and growth.

As we head into one of our favorite times of year, we seek peace to hear the untold stories. We seek space to reflect and an opportunity to grow insights into action.

Now, more than ever, we need community. We will March into this month and give you that opportunity. This is the month that frames our work. March is when the City’s open data community celebrates our collective passion, ingenuity, and solidarity.

Will you join us to build a community rooted in understanding, growth, and opportunity?

Revisit our latest BetaBagels with Council Member Carmen De La Rosa!

Many thank yous to Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, Chair of the NYC Council Committee on Technology, for providing a thoughtful and grounded conversation. If you didn’t catch the video, tune into our YouTube channel for our latest BetaBagels. We’re so grateful to Council Member De La Rosa’s staff and the PIT Pop-up team for hosting us.

School of Data general admission tickets are on sale! 

Grab your tickets for School of Data and UnSchool of Data, including opportunities for scholarship tickets and free on-site childcare to help make the event more accessible. You can find all the details at schoolofdata.nyc. 

ICYMI, the NYC School of Data schedule is live! 

You can browse the full lineup here: schoolofdata.nyc/2026-schedule. This year’s program includes sessions that deeply resonate with the work we care about, including:

These sessions reflect the throughlines we see across our community — making AI more accessible, expanding digital inclusion, strengthening climate resilience, supporting housing transparency, and equipping everyday New Yorkers with practical civic tools.

The NYC Open Data Week and Data Through Design schedule is here!

NYC Open Data Week is also taking shape! The preliminary festival program is now live at opendataweek.nyc. Check it out and start signing up for events! As part of the week, our friends at Data Through Design will host their Opening Reception of Echo{logies} at BRIC on Saturday, March 21 — a celebration of data-driven art and storytelling that always brings a creative spark to Open Data Week.

We can’t wait to see you throughout the month, learn with you, and build the future we want to see!

PS – Congratulations to Cleopatra Browne, the Manhattan Borough President’s receptionist and talented artist. Cleo is a surrogate member of the team, helping guide our guests through the Manhattan Borough President’s office and to our cubes. If you want to celebrate International Women’s Day and see Cleo’s work, check out One Art Space, 23 Warren Street, Manhattan.

In solidarity,

Gabrielle Langston & Noel Hidalgo & Duncan Ballantine

Support BetaNYC Today! 💗

Thousands of our community members made this newsletter a weekly check-in last year, with over 5,400 subscribers. Nearly 2,000 of you kept coming back weekly for civic tech updates, resources, and opportunities to act.

If it’s helped you navigate the moment or find your next step, please consider a monthly contribution. Recurring gifts keep this newsletter staffed, edited, and shared week after week.

Become a recurring donor for 2026: https://beta.nyc/donate 

What’s New at BetaNYC? 🚀

  • Worth revisiting: Our 2025 Impact report is available! It’s a snapshot of what our community made possible last year—open data projects, public interest tech work, and the ways we showed up for New Yorkers. Read the full report.
  • Want to plug in locally? Community board applications are open in Manhattan until March 6 at 5 pm, and in Staten Island, applications are accepted year-round. If you’re curious, but not sure where to start, January’s BetaBagels recap is a friendly, low-pressure introduction.

Upcoming Events with BetaNYC 🎊

Flyer for ‘Discovering NYC Open Data,’ a free monthly online workshop from NYC Open Data Ambassadors and BetaNYC. Text highlights learning how to find, filter, and visualize NYC datasets, with a QR code to sign up and an illustration of two people holding data charts.
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
Orange-to-peach gradient poster with bold dark blue text reading “JOIN NYC’S PUBLIC INTEREST TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY.” Below are icons and event details: Saturday, March 28 & Sunday, March 29, 2026; CUNY School of Law, Queens; www.schoolofdata.nyc. Logos at bottom: BetaNYC, NYC OpenData, and NYC Office of Technology & Innovation.
Blue poster with BetaNYC logo and the headline “CLASS DISMISSED.” An orange banner reads “UnSchool of Data 2026.” Text below: “A Public Interest Unconference.” and “www.schoolofdata.nyc/unschool,” with a spray-paint can illustration. Bottom text: “Sunday, March 29, 2026,” and “CUNY School of Law.”

This Week’s Media Watchlist 🎥

  • NYC parks need a “rec revolution.” Center for an Urban Future argues NYC has steadily deprioritized recreation with shrinking budgets/staffing and leaving “rec deserts,” even as health, loneliness, and demand for free programs rise.
  • A behind-the-scenes look at what makes civic tech work. The Civic Tech Field Guide was featured on a Democracy Innovators podcast episode covering project success/failure, network effects, interoperability, and the future of civic tech.
  • A blueprint to future-proof the BBC. Demos frames the BBC as the “world’s information infrastructure” and proposes reforms to strengthen independence and meaningful citizen participation during the 2026 Charter Renewal process. A Bluesky post from the report’s author makes the case that the BBC is a crucial public-interest technology institution, and an anchor for digital sovereignty.
  • Traffic noise is linked to stress on your cardiovascular system. A study in the Cardiovascular Research journal reports that even one night of typical road-noise exposure measurably impaired blood vessel function, increased heart rate, and disrupted sleep in healthy adults.

Artificial Intelligence Roundup 🤖

  • Inside NSF’s new marching orders. Science reports that NSF leaders are publicly describing a major reorientation toward AI and quantum priorities—alongside big operational shifts, including plans to cut the number of grant solicitations. (Paywall)
  • Massachusetts + ChatGPT: readers aren’t convinced. A Boston.com poll captured strong skepticism about rolling out a ChatGPT assistant for Massachusetts executive branch workers, with concerns centered on privacy/security, reliability, and environmental costs.
  • Who writes the rules for military AI? Tech Policy Press unpacks the Anthropic–Pentagon dispute and argues the guardrails for surveillance and autonomous targeting should be set through democratic oversight, not procurement brinkmanship.
  • A playbook for bringing communities into AI decisions. GovAI Coalition announced a Community Engagement Handbook for AI with practical guidance and templates for agencies using AI in resident-facing services.

Data Privacy Watch 🔐

  • A much-needed reminder on data sovereignty: Indigenous Data Alliance’s LinkedIn post succinctly defines Indigenous Data Sovereignty as Indigenous Peoples’ authority over data about their Peoples, lands, resources, and knowledge, and links it to broader data governance.

Jobs Alert and Announcements 💼 

Upcoming Events 📅

Note: All times are listed in ET

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