Learn how Heat Storyan interactive tool that maps the inequitable impacts of extreme heat—was built using open source tools and brought to life via community science and stories, in collaboration with South Bronx Unite.

When New Yorkers’ own stories about how heat has affected their neighborhoods, commutes, and homes are overlaid onto a map rich with open datasets exploring racist housing policies, income inequality, heat-related illness, and more, the impact of the compounding inequities that influence the effects of heat is made both personal and global for cities everywhere.

The process of translating this tool into a government data feature involved monthly meetings between the NYC Health Department (Emily Torem, Matthew Montesano, and Chris Gettings); principal investigator Dr. Liv Yoon; and software engineer Thomas Zinckgraf, to discuss the visual direction and user interaction; and then an iterative process of pushing changes through a Github repository, testing them out, and making further changes as a team. Through sharing this process with you, we hope to illuminate some of the mechanics of open data projects between different stakeholders to help advance equity in the environment, health, and climate spaces.

Join this presentation to hear from the team behind Heat Story as they:

  • Talk through building an interactive climate data feature using open source tools and a hands-on approach
  • Share techniques for community engagement around climate topics like heat-related illness and inequities
  • Explain how you or someone you know can share your story with this living project and help humanize the impacts of heat in NYC
  • Discuss why and how mapping climate and health indicators like air quality, neighborhood poverty, heat stress hospitalizations, heat vulnerability, AC access, and more is such a powerful tool for climate justice communication and advocacy
  • Answer any questions you may have about starting related projects

Urban populations are aging, and climate change puts older adults at increasing risk from extreme heat. Yet current approaches to understanding and intervening to reduce risk, harm, and cost are imprecise and fragmented. To meet emerging healthcare needs we must understand the individual and local factors that determine how much heat people experience (exposure), how their bodies respond (sensitivity), and timely actions to intervene (adaptive capacity).

Join this workshop to

  • receive an overview of a new applied research Initiative on Aging and Adaptation to Extreme Heat, linking all three Cornell campuses in New York City (Cornell Tech, Weill-Cornell Medicine) and the main Ithaca, NY campus.
  • learn about a new, curated collection of open city, state, and federal data focused on this topic (the Extreme Heat and Aging Exchange)
  • discuss our plans to evolve this catalog into a data and model collaborative providing a forum for stakeholders to share knowledge, and ways to get involved.

Discover how U.S. Census Bureau Tools can help you find free data for your community.

Learn about Community Resilience Estimates and how to navigate My Community Explorer; an interactive map-based tool which highlights demographic and socioeconomic data that measure inequality. See how to access the latest American Community Survey and 2020 Census data for various geographies including New York City at data.census.gov.

This session will involve live demonstration and hands-on exercises for participants.

EquityNYC, a project of the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, reports the status of racial and social equity in New York City and the City’s work to address disparities. The site visualizes and contextualizes over 225 disaggregated metrics that measure population-level well-being, who the City serves, where services are located, who the City employs, who receives City contracts, and how the City promotes equity internally.

Join us to learn more about EquityNYC, understand the technology behind the site, discover how to use equity data in decision-making, and suggest potential use-cases to explore. To learn more, visit https://equity.nyc.gov/

Government programs and services provide vital support such as housing and food to people experiencing poverty, yet thousands of New Yorkers still do not sign up for the benefits they qualify for. Navigating all of the available options can be confusing and difficult due to the complex requirements around eligibility. How can we create a more streamlined way for New Yorkers to find out all the benefits they are eligible for?

In this interactive workshop, the NYC Office for Economic Opportunity invites you to imagine new ways of bridging the benefits enrollment gaps in NYC and reducing poverty. You will have the opportunity to explore and try for yourself a set of open tools our Office has created for this purpose including:

  • The NYC Benefits Screening API: Comprehensive benefits screening criteria and calculations for 40+ benefits
  • The NYC Benefits and Programs Dataset: Plain-language, standardized information for 100+ benefits and programs.

Join this virtual session to get to know these open source resources and explore how these tools can support benefits outreach work.

Close out Open Data Week with BetaNYC!

When: Saturday, March 23 from 9am to 6pm
Where: CUNY School of Law
Website: schoolofdata.nyc
Registration: nycsodata2024.eventbrite.com

Join us for our annual community-driven public interest technology conference. Participants come to learn, network, and collaborate around public interest technology, data, and design in New York City. With programming support from the Open Data Team at the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, our conference convenes city officials, technologists, designers, data analysts, and community members around open data, civic technology, and service design in New York City.

This year, we are commemorating the 14th anniversary of International Open Data Day, the 12th anniversary of the City’s transformative Open Data Law, and the conclusion of NYC Open Data Week.

There will be panels, workshops, demos, talks, presentations, and sessions with NYC agencies, on a range of civic topics. Whether you’re new to the community or well-acquainted, you’re invited to spend the day with us learning, sharing, discovering, and connecting around a shared passion to build a better civic society for ALL New Yorkers.

NYC School of Data is organized by BetaNYC, with programming support from the NYC Office of Data Analytics and hosted by CUNY School of Law.


Tickets include breakfast, lunch, coffee/beverages, an accessible venue, and childcare for those who need it. Thank you for helping us cover the costs of producing a large community event. Interested in volunteering?  Interested in a scholarship ticket? Need childcare? Work for Government? Read on…

Scholarships: There are a select number of scholarship tickets available. Tickets are $35, and we will prioritize traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities. Learn more and apply before Wednesday, 20 March, at 5:00 PM.

Volunteering: The official deadline has passed, but you can still apply to volunteer at School of Data. We are reviewing applications in the order we receive them and will consider late ones on a case-by-case basis.

Childcare: This year, we have contracted Smart Sitting for on-site childcare for children under the age of 18. To use this service, you MUST be a ticket-holder, and you MUST register your child before March 21 by acquiring a Childcare Ticket on Eventbrite. Each child you register requires a ticket registration. There are limited spots available, so please sign up sooner rather than later!

Government Tickets: If you work for government and want to purchase $55 tickets via a check or a purchase order (PO), the opportunity closes on Wednesday, 20 March, at 5:00 PM. Please email < schoolofdata+govticket@beta.nyc >.

Important! To attend this event, you must register at nycsodata2024.eventbrite.com