Our Mission
BetaNYC is a civic organization dedicated to improving lives in New York through civic design, technology, and data.
We help all New Yorkers access information and use technology for the public interest. When empowered with modern civic tools, residents can hold their government accountable while improving their economic opportunities.
Lastly, we help New York’s governments and civic organizations work for the people, by the people, and for the digital era.
Our Purpose
We see our purpose as Improving lives through civic design, public interest technology, and open data.
- We empower the public with tools, education, and data.
- We demystify government, technology, design, and data to improve access to services and information.
- We explore a world of possibilities by providing a safe space for individuals and government to collaborate to improve the city.
Our Values
In 2013, the community wrote the People’s Roadmap to a Digital New York City. This document outlined our values, produced several proposed pieces of legislation, and helped produce several additional laws. The following values govern our programs, policies, and partnerships.
The Freedom to Connect represents the idea that access to high-speed bi-directional internet is a prerequisite to full civic participation. Economic growth, job creation, educational opportunities, public safety, digital government services, and access to affordable health care depend on affordable and fast connectivity. In 1932, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt emphasized communities’ right to provide electricity. Today, communities need infrastructure for high-speed universal access.
The Freedom to Learn is the idea that unrestricted access to knowledge, institutions, code, algorithms, data, and tools, regardless of place of birth, ability, language, identity, age, faith, or income, is essential to an empowered and educated public.
The Freedom to Innovate is central to the advancement of communities and knowledge. Innovation is vital to developing a complex, dynamic, thriving civil society. This City’s heritage claims to be rooted in sharing the land, air, and sea. We need laws and policies that place people before profit, provide universal economic opportunity and care, protect the commons, and allow innovation.
The Freedom to Collaborate supports the idea that participatory democracy is not centralized. Regardless of status and interface, we must be able to engage with our government, wherever and whenever. We must have the power to effect change and be a government by the people, for the people.
A City We Envision
- Government and social services are centered around the constituent and are rooted in harm reduction;
- Individuals are empowered with knowledge and tools to address their community’s problems;
- Individuals, regardless of ability, actively participate in the local governance process;
- Community members are seen as trusted collaborators on impactful solutions;
- Community-based organizations effectively use tools to improve the lives of their clients;
- Elected representatives are capable of proactively and effectively communicating with their constituents
- All parties can collaborate to explore insights and experiment via civic innovation events (i.e., hackathons, datapaloozas, and design-a-thons);
- Education, fellowship, and community are combined to provide a ladder of growth, equity, sustainability, and resilience;
- The future is written in collaboration, not for.