Last Tuesday, BetaNYC’s Associates Board hosted the first BetaBuilders lightning talk event at Wilka’s — Manhattan’s first and only women’s sports bar — and the room delivered.
Three speakers brought research and projects that sit at the edge of queer identity and technology: Raitah Jinnat from Hunter College’s TIER Lab on what it actually takes to build a robot companion that doesn’t fail queer users; Maria Baker on how generative AI quietly erases lesbian identity in film — even when you explicitly ask it not to; and Charlie Sprinkman, founder of Everywhere Is Queer, who turned a frustrating road trip through 41 states into a global directory of 22,500 queer-owned organizations with 350,000 users.
The evening closed with the formal launch of BetaBuilders, BetaNYC’s new sustaining membership program — the community infrastructure behind the civic tech work we do together.
Read the full recap and join BetaBuilders.
Missed Open Data Week? The Recordings Are Here. 🎥
All recordings from Open Data Week 2026 are now live on the Open Data Week YouTube channel. A few sessions weren’t recorded, but most of the program is there. NYC School of Data sessions are coming next.
Watch Open Data Week Recordings
And while you’re in the open data spirit, NYC Open Data is revamping its Project Gallery. If you’ve built something with open data (including teaching materials), share it with them.
Support BetaNYC 💗
BetaBuilders is live. Join us as a sustaining member and help fund the civic tech work we do together — open data tools, public interest tech training, and community events for New Yorkers.
Upcoming Events with BetaNYC 🎊
- July 10 at 12:00 pm EDT — Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session — NYC Open Data Team at OTI and BetaNYC
- July 10 at 2:00 pm EDT — Mapping for Equity: Mapping NYC’s Public Amenities in Council District 11 — Council Member Eric Dinowitz and BetaNYC
- July 13 at 10:00 am EDT — Introduction to AI (AI 101) with Council District 4 & BetaNYC — Council Member Virginia Maloney and BetaNYC
- July 21 at 12:00 pm EDT — Introduction to AI (AI 101) with Council District 2 & BetaNYC — Council Member Harvey Epstein and BetaNYC
Civic Tech News & Updates 🗽
- It Was a Pretty Good Year for Regulating AI in New York — NYS lawmakers passed multiple AI safeguards in the 2026 session: restrictions on harmful chatbot interactions with minors, AI training data transparency requirements, and disclosure rules for AI use in news. The broader NY AI Act did not advance. (City & State NY)
- Digital ID or Democracy? An Advocate’s Introduction — 41-page draft report on the rapid expansion of digital identity systems — mobile driver’s licenses, Login.gov, facial recognition, age verification, biometric databases. Argues digital ID is new governance infrastructure concentrating power in corporate vendors. NYC hook: CRCR helped defeat the de Blasio 2018 IDNYC smartchip proposal linking medical records, benefits, and shelter data without community input. (Surveillance Resistance Lab / CRCR)
- The Women Leading the Push Against AI Data Centers — Women-led advocacy against AI data center proliferation — energy demand, environmental impact, community health. Pairs with the NYS data center moratorium thread. (The 19th)
- NYC Council candidate accused of forgery over AI-generated posts — Queens Republican Jonathan Rinaldi arrested for using AI (Gemini) to fabricate endorsements, fake news articles, and doctored photos during a 2025 council race. Charged under pre-AI forgery statutes. DA Melinda Katz prosecuting. (AP)
- 40 Mayors Worldwide Endorse a Pact to Shape Data Center Development — C40 Cities initiative launched at London Climate Action Week. About 20 US cities signed. Standards include siting on underutilized land, clean energy, water reduction, and community input. No NYC participation. (AP)
- Staffers Drafting Federal AI Bill Took Industry-Funded Trip to Visit Tech Giants — Congressional staffers were flown to Austin by the ITI Institute for meetings with Google and Nvidia — four days before lawmakers introduced the Great American Artificial Intelligence Act, which would preempt state AI rules for three years. (Read Sludge)
- Reinvent Albany + 10 Groups Support $255K for DORIS in FY27 Budget — A coalition of ten transparency and open-government groups — including BetaNYC — submitted testimony to the NYC Council in support of $255,000 for DORIS (Dept. of Records & Information Services) in the FY27 budget. (Reinvent Albany)
- Bernie Sanders Unveils $7 Trillion Plan to Give Americans Control of AI Industry — Sanders’s proposal would establish public ownership stakes in AI development. Signals AI industrial policy is now a mainstream legislative conversation. (Ars Technica / Ashley Belanger)
AI Roundup 🤖
- How Many Americans Are Using AI — and How? — Over half of American adults have used AI tools, primarily for information searches. Significant trust and data privacy concerns persist. (USAFacts)
- How LLMs Could Supercharge Mass Surveillance in the US — LLM agents could do the work of intelligence analysts at scale. Data brokers already sell web searches, financial records, and location data to government clients; LLMs could reassemble these far more easily. (MIT Technology Review)
- How Courts Are Coping with a Flood of AI-Generated Lawsuits — AI-generated filings in US courts rose from 1% in 2023 to 18% in 2026. Judges wrestle with chatbot legal duties and liability as AI steps into lawyers’ shoes for self-represented litigants. (MIT Technology Review)
- OpenAI Launches Full-Scale Effort to Patch Open-Source Bugs — OpenAI revealed an improved version of GPT-5.5-Cyber and its “Patch the Planet” initiative to fix open-source software vulnerabilities. (Wired)
Community Wins, and Featured Tools 🛠️
- Apartment Audit NYC — A tool built on NYC Open Data to help New Yorkers navigate DOB and HPD data more accessibly than the city’s own portals. Submitted by a reader via beta.nyc/newsletter-inbox.
- NYC Performance Tracker — An interactive dashboard aggregating NYC Mayor’s Management Report data from 1998 to present. Explore agency performance metrics and neighborhood-level indicators across 25+ years. (Ted Alcorn, independent)
- The Power of Public Data: The Campaign to Fix Hudson Link — Carley Hart built a web app tracking reliability failures on a Hudson Valley commuter bus, revealing that 15–23% of buses a day don’t show up. The public dashboard generated government attention and media coverage. (Concrete and Code)
- Civic Tech World Cup — Vote for Your Favorite Projects — Each match pits two real civic tech projects from the Civic Tech Field Guide against each other; readers vote to advance favorites through knockout rounds. (Civic Tech Field Guide)
- FAQ NYC Ep. 501: NYC Lifeguards — Policy, Union, and History — Katie Honan interviews Janet Fash — veteran NYC lifeguard and author of Lifeguard: A Love Story — on the history, union, and policy behind NYC’s lifeguard corps. Timely for summer. (FAQ NYC)
- The New York Artist Embroidering Knicks Merch on the Street — NYC-based street artist creating custom embroidered Knicks gear in public. (Vogue)
Jobs & Opportunities 💼
- NYC Startup Internship Program — Volunteer Mentor Interest Form — Seeking volunteer mentors (1 hr/biweekly) for the 2026 paid summer internship cohort. Deadline: June 26.
- TechCongress 2027 Congressional Innovation Fellowship — Places technologists in Congressional offices for a year to work on tech policy. Deadline: June 28.
- SSRC Just Tech Fellowship — Unrestricted award for researchers, artists, journalists, and community practitioners working at the intersection of technology and society. Fellowship runs Jan–Dec 2027. Deadline: June 28.
- Data Dream 2026 — Apply for a free 6–8 month data capacity-building project with Data You Can Use (KPIs, surveys, evaluation plans, data viz). Deadline: June 30.
- Engagement Editor — The Nation — Manages social media, homepage curation, email newsletters, and analytics. Deadline: June 30.
- Community Associate — Bronx Community Board #5 — Entry-level, supports community board operations and constituent interactions. Bronx. Deadline: July 2.
- Director of Programs and Policy, Young Men’s Initiative — NYC Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice — Senior leadership role overseeing policy and programs for young people of color 14–24. Deadline: July 2.
- Senior Fellow, Global Programs — AI Now Institute — Leads a policy-responsive workstream on AI sovereignty, industrial policy, and international AI governance. Deadline: July 3.
- Surveillance Analyst — NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — Supports environmental disease surveillance, including childhood blood lead monitoring. NYC all boros. Deadline: July 5.
- Deputy Director — Transportation Alternatives — Reports to Executive Director; leads advocacy, policy, and government relations at NYC’s leading street safety nonprofit. Deadline: July 6.
- Community Coordinator — NYC Department of Environmental Protection — Organizes employee engagement activities in the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations. NYC all boros. Deadline: July 8.
- Post-Doctoral Fellow (AI-Enabled Scams) — Data & Society — Qualitative research on how AI is supercharging scams and fraud, with focus on young people. Remote, Sept 2026–May 2028. Deadline: July 15.
- The Protopian Prize — Fiction Contest on Public AI & Democratic Futures — Inaugural fiction contest imagining achievable, optimistic futures. Two categories: Public AI and Democratic Futures. Deadline: July 31.
- Senior Product Manager — NYC Office of Technology and Innovation — Leads resident-facing digital products from problem framing through public launch. Deadline: August 14.
- Senior Product Designer — NYC Office of Technology and Innovation — Designs resident-facing products end-to-end spanning research, interaction, visual, and content design. Deadline: August 14.
Rolling / no deadline listed:
- Product Data Analyst — Associated Press (NYC) — NYC hybrid. Analyzes user behavior and product performance across APNews.com.
- Lead Full-Stack Engineer — Rethink Food (NYC) — NYC-based. Chef-led nonprofit building tech to connect restaurants, kitchens, and community partners around equitable food access. Requires 7+ years full-stack (TypeScript, React/Next.js, Python, PostgreSQL).
- Senior / Staff Software Engineer — Community Tech Alliance — Remote (core hours 12–4pm ET). Develops PAD, CTA’s flagship data infrastructure platform serving progressive organizations.
- Senior Infrastructure Engineer — Friends From The City — Remote.
- Senior Software Engineer, Backend — Friends From The City — Remote.
- Senior UX Researcher (Contract) — Friends From The City — Remote. Short-term 1099 contract.
- Database Administrator — Energy Solutions (NYC) — NYC hybrid. Database administration and Power BI dashboard development at a clean energy consultancy.
- IT Coordinator — Break Through Tech (NYC) — Part-time (20–29 hrs/week), Summer 2026 with potential extension. Hybrid, Manhattan.
- NYC PIT Pop-Up — Summer Workshop Series — A summer camp-inspired public interest technology series at the Oculus/World Trade Center (185 Greenwich St, Shop #53). Two sessions weekly — lunch and after-work. Limited to 30 spots.
- Institutional Research Analyst — Stony Brook University — US-NY-Stony Brook. Full time.
Events 📅
- June 26 at 3:00 pm — Principles G.I. Coffee House — Principles G.I.
- June 27 at 12:00 pm — TechWalk Brooklyn — TechWalk
- June 30 at 6:00 pm — How Can NYC Be A More Human Place to Live? — NeueHouse / Mormedi
- June 28 at 2:00 pm — June Climate Cafe — South Brooklyn — Climate Cafe
- June 30 at 2:00 pm — Transforming Cybersecurity Talent: Why Women Must Lead the Way — WiCyS
- July 6–7 — Global Dialogue on AI Governance — Geneva. Registration deadline extended to June 28 at 11:59pm CEST.
- July 9 at 2:30 pm — DCAS Civil Service 101 Info Session — DCAS
- July 9 at 6:30 pm — Data Centers: The Race for Power — YPE NYC — YPE NYC
- July 14–23 — Bridges to Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technology Training — Cypress Hills Community Organization
- July 24 — Black Python Devs Leadership Summit 2026 — Black Python Devs
- August 5 at 5:30 pm — NYASG Summer Soirée — NYASG
- Now through summer — Trees Count — NYC Street Tree Census — NYC Parks
Media to Watch, Listen, or Read 🎥
- [READ] Artificial Intelligence Firms Are Feasting on Manhattan Office Space — AI companies leased over 1 million square feet of NYC office space in early 2026, revitalizing commercial real estate — though experts warn of economic risks if the boom falters. (Gothamist)
- [LISTEN] Prominent Climate Scientist Argues It’s Time to Ditch the ‘Myth of Neutrality’ — Katharine Hayhoe on the difference between objectivity and neutrality in science. (CBC Radio)
- [READ] Federal Citizenship Database Cannot Be Used to Screen Voters, Judge Rules — Federal judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan barred the Trump administration from letting states query a centralized DHS/SSA citizenship database to purge voter rolls, finding it violated at least three laws protecting personal data. (New York Times)
- [READ] The World’s First Trillionaire Is a Killer — TC Sottek on Musk’s dismantling of federal agencies: “An agency isn’t more efficient if it doesn’t exist; it’s simply been murdered.” (The Verge)
- [WATCH] ‘Scientists Were Dead Right’: Al Gore on the 20th Anniversary of An Inconvenient Truth — Twenty years on, the scientific predictions have proven accurate. The past 11 years are the hottest on record. (ABC News)
- [READ] Amtrak Calls for MTA to Partner on the Penn Station Rebuild It Once Led — Amtrak senior adviser Andy Byford (former NYC Transit “Train Daddy”) wrote to MTA Chair Janno Lieber calling for partnership on Penn Station. (Gothamist)
- [READ] Kansas City’s Plan for Facial Recognition Cameras on Buses Sparks Privacy Concerns — KC is pushing ahead with live facial recognition on public buses despite state funding being pulled over privacy concerns. NYC-based Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) is among the opponents. (AP)
- [READ] NYC’s HPD Is Suing Negligent Landlords — But Complaints Keep Piling Up — HPD has a large backlog of unresolved housing complaints even as the Mamdani administration pursues high-profile lawsuits, including a $2M fine against the owner of 919 Prospect Ave in the Bronx. (NYS Focus)
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We use AI tools to help scan and organize civic tech news each week — all editorial decisions are made by the BetaNYC team, per our AI Policy.
Build with NYC’s civic data. BetaNYC publishes free, open-source MCP connectors giving AI assistants direct access to NYC Council legislation, city spending and contracts, 311 service data, the City Record, the NYC Charter and Administrative Code, and NYS Open Legislation. If you’re building with AI and civic data, explore them on GitHub.
Take care of each other, and have a great weekend!