BetaNYC is a New York City civic nonprofit working where government, communities and technology meet. It helps residents access and use public data, and advocates for public systems that are open and accountable. Its work also aims to make civic information and services more accessible, while supporting residents’ ability to participate in decisions that affect their communities.210
The organisation began in 2008 as the NYC Open Government meetup, founded by Hailey Austin Cooperrider. It relaunched as the Open NY Forum in 2009, co-founded by Cooperrider, Philip Ashlock and Noel Hidalgo, and adopted the BetaNYC name in 2013. Noel Hidalgo is identified as its executive director and a co-founder.49
Its activities include a Civic Innovation Lab that provides research and data-analysis support to community groups, policymakers and local stakeholders; public classes and literacy programmes; and workforce development for students pursuing public-interest technology careers.61 BetaNYC also convenes civic technology communities through events including NYC Open Data Week, CityCamp NYC, Mapping for Equity workshops and BetaBagels gatherings.11
A central programme is NYC School of Data, an annual community conference featuring workshops, panels and demonstrations on open data, civic technology and service design. BetaNYC says it has organised the conference since 2010.8 Other projects include Mapping for Equity, which uses open-source mapping to help residents document neighbourhoods, and the NYC Urban Heat Portal, developed to make climate-justice information more accessible.6 Its work is primarily focused on New York City, while the organisation describes itself as a national partner in civic technology and open government.4