On Friday, May 8, we gathered with community partners, BetaNYC alumni, mentors, and students to graduate our latest Civic Innovation Fellows, Ayela Janjua and Jillian Melough. This showcase was a special BetaBagels edition in which we highlighted a milestone year of growth, collaboration, and impact, looking ahead to the future of public interest technology.
Hosted in partnership with the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and the College of Staten Island, the celebration reflected on how our Fellowship continues to be a space where Fellows learn how peer community-based organizations, civics, public data, and community engagement intersect with our everyday lives.
An Afternoon Celebrating Community and Growth
We kicked off the afternoon with Jazzy Smith, BetaNYC’s Chief of Staff, who shared a reflection on the Fellowship’s evolution and the importance of creating long-term opportunities for students in public interest technology. She also touched on the collaborative effort behind the program, highlighting our team’s work and the many ways Ayela and Jillian engaged with projects throughout the year as Fellows, from Mapping for Equity to public-facing community events.
Esther Caroline, Director of Policy at the Office of the Manhattan Borough President, continued the momentum by emphasizing the importance of having data and tech that work for us as New Yorkers. She also spoke about her career journey in government policy, noting that every time their team faces an issue, the first question they ask is, “What data is there to show us the history of this issue and help lead us to solutions?” More often than not, the data does not exist, and when it does, there is a lack of tools for data literacy and public demystification.
Following Esther’s remarks, BetaNYC Alum Ishrat Chowdhury shared how her time as a Fellow in 2018 shaped her career in government technology consulting and deepened their understanding of civic engagement and public service. Reflecting on her journey from Fellow to BetaNYC Mentor to a Consultant working with public sector clients at Accenture, Ishrat spoke about how the program gave her practical experience that continues to influence her work today.
In Conversation With the Fellows
Our showcase then transitioned into a fireside chat hosted by Dimitri Mimy, BetaNYC’s former Manager of Educational Programs & Community Initiatives, and Naeema Haque, BetaNYC’s Development and Strategy Manager. Jillian and Ayela were the stars of the show and reflected on their experiences over the past year. Through questions about leadership, public speaking, community impact, and personal growth, the conversation deepened understanding of how the Fellowship helped them build confidence as they contributed to projects and events across our city’s public interest tech ecosystem.
Ayela and Jillian described arriving at the Fellowship program with different expectations and gradually stepping into leadership roles through Mapping for Equity fieldwork, data entry workshops, and public events such as CityCamp NYC, BetaBagels, Open Data Week, and NYC School of Data. They spoke about learning how technology can support communities beyond traditional coding roles, whether through storytelling, data analysis, accessibility, research, or civic engagement.
I feel a lot more hopeful about technology…seeing the Public Interest Tech community come together to use tech for the betterment of the public good is incredibly heartwarming and makes me feel more confident about more professional paths I may want to take.
– Ayela Janjua
After the fireside chat, Rev. Kathleen (Katie) M. Cumiskey, PhD, Director of the CUNY Public Interest Tech Lab, presented Jillian and Ayela with a Fellowship certificate of completion. We’re so grateful to the CUNY PIT Lab for their partnership, without whom we wouldn’t have crossed paths with Ayela and Jillian!
Overall, this experience has made me consider this more as a long term career option…knowing how to look at data and then analyze data is something that can be used across most jobs today.
-Jillian Melough
As our work continues to evolve, this showcase was a beautiful reminder that investing in students today will help shape a more equitable and collaborative public interest tech future for our city.
Relive the Festivities!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the showcase! We appreciate your support for this year’s Fellows and your role in a growing community dedicated to civic engagement and public interest technology. If you missed the event, be sure to catch the recording on our YouTube page. We’re excited to see where Ayela and Jillian go next!