Nyc Civic Service Design Tools Tactics

The initiatives that you will work on are all aimed at helping residents address poverty-related challenges, and all of the work of our office is guided by our commitment to 3 core principles:

Equity. We believe that equal opportunity and the possibility of upward mobility must be genuine— that where you start out in life should not dictate where you end up. But too often poverty, racism and other structural inequalities and social conditions create barriers for New Yorkers that limit their ability to advance and participate fully in the city's economic and civic life.

Evidence. We believe that the public sector should make decisions based on rigorous attention to data — drawn from research and evaluation, performance measurement, and the voices of those who experience public services as well as the challenges they are meant to address. Policies and programs exist that can effectively reduce poverty and broaden opportunity; government should invest in those that work, and end those that do not.

Innovation. We believe that more solutions are required to address unmet needs and stubborn problems — and are optimistic that new approaches delivered through government can achieve large-scale impact. Innovation is fundamentally about getting better results, and demands a commitment to assess outcomes rigorously, capture and respond to lessons, and accept the risk that some efforts will fail.

Digital and Data Products

ACCESS NYC homepage

Much of our digital work focuses on making it easier for New Yorkers to access services. We seek to make information and enrollment in services available to New Yorkers easy to find and use on any device. Our key digital tool for access to services is ACCESS NYC, a website that allows New Yorkers to screen for eligibility for over 30 city, state, and federal benefit programs in 11 languages. Depending on the benefit, residents can apply online, print out pre-populated application forms, and determine agency locations where they can go to directly apply for services. ACCESS NYC received an award for "Best Application Serving The Public" from the New York Digital Government Summit.

Growing Up NYC homepage

Our office also oversees Growing Up NYC and Generation NYC. Growing Up NYC brings the City's family and children-related resources together in a mobile-first, accessible platform to make it easier for parents to raise strong and healthy kids. It features easy-to-read age guides with developmental milestones and parenting tips, over fifty City, State, and Federally-funded benefits and programs, and local events and activities.

Generation NYC homepage

Generation NYC is our youth site, featuring topics (such as school, work, finance, and counseling), inspirational youth profiles, and free trips around NYC.

All three products are supported by the Benefits and Programs API, a dataset that provides benefit, program, and resource information for over 40 health and human services available to NYC residents. The data is kept up-to-date, including the most recent applications, eligibility requirements, and application dates.

Service Design

toolkit

Our Service Design work develops solutions rooted in insights about the holistic experiences of those affected by public services. It considers people, processes, communications, and technology as part of the solution. By applying Service Design methodologies, our team better meets the needs of residents and service providers with approaches that produce better results.

Data Integration

Our data integration work helps City agencies deliver more effective, holistic services to the right people at the right time, targeting support to those who can most benefit.

Worker Connect

One of our key tools for data integration is Worker Connect, a data sharing technology that allows caseworkers to see real-time information about clients drawn from multiple City sources, helping the City better coordinate the delivery of resources and support to individuals and families. Caseworkers can search for clients and retrieve demographic information, household data, service interactions and casefile documents. Users of Worker Connect only access information that they have been authorized to view based on their role and all applicable laws and regulations.

Research

Research of various forms is inherent in all of NYC Opportunity's work. Understanding client perspectives, programmatic best practices and demographic conditions are all central to initiatives, digital products, and policies that are evidence driven and responsive to the needs of low-income New Yorkers.

povertychart

Our Poverty Research team produces the annual official poverty measure of the New York City government, the NYCgov Measure, that provides a more nuanced understanding of poverty in New York City than the federal rate allows. Our poverty research also informs the City's understanding of inequality and the effectiveness of policies in addressing disparities among local residents and communities.

Programs & Evaluation

Programs

NYC Opportunity helps agencies and partners design programs and implement them using all of the tools at our disposal from research to data integration. We engage in program management and performance monitoring for the programs within our portfolio, and help partners develop appropriate performance monitoring metrics for their programs and initiatives. Additionally, NYC Opportunity works with independent evaluation firms to assess the effectiveness of programs within our portfolio and select citywide initiatives. These evaluations inform New York City's program and budget decision-making, and contribute to public policy in the social services more generally.