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After delays, NYC unveils MyCity site to streamline access to city services
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 29, 2023
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Photo courtesy Caroline Willis/Mayoral Photo Office
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 29, 2023
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New Yorkers could soon apply for food stamps, get reduced childcare and unemployment insurance all in the same place.
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a website called MyCity where New Yorkers can access all of the city’s services online in one location — admittedly with a few hiccups.
“We’re going to take the criticisms, why it’s taken so long — we got it,” Adams said at a press conference. “But we know what the finished product is going to be.”
The mayor is touting MyCity as the solution to the tedium of juggling multiple sites and applications to access all of the city’s services. The site will also soon automatically inform users what governmental assistance they’re eligible for, Adams said.
"If you see the mounds of paperwork you need to get hired, same questions over and over again," Adams said. "All of these forms, the mounds of paperwork, you need to get food stamps, to get SNAP, to get WIC, this is just torturous. We are now going to condense, we are going to expedite, this is going to be a fluent way of the delivery of goods and services."
But its launch took some time — more than a year after Adams originally announced it during his first State of the City address. The app’s slow debut is also particularly noticeable since it had been one of the initiatives Adams announced when he ran for mayor. Gotham Gazette reported in January that the site was supposed to debut at the end of 2022.
Adams attributed the slow rollout to other administrative concerns, including the asylum-seeker influx and the pandemic. In launching the site, the city also enacted two pieces of legislation by Manhattan Councilmember Julie Menin, which created an electronic childcare directory and established a childcare subsidy information portal.
“We built the system from scratch,” he said. “We had to get permission from the federal and the state to do aspects of this. And we brought down the cost of childcare.”
But despite its debut, MyCity isn’t fully ready yet, either: users can access childcare services on the site, but will have to wait at least several more months before they can use the app to apply for other benefits.
The city’s Office of Technology and Innovation spearheaded the site’s design. Matt Fraser, who leads the office, said the site’s development “took about 15 months.”
Fraser also said that there are a host of safeguards embedded in the technology to keep users' data safe.
“In addition to protecting the data, we also have a privacy team that’s focused on — if there’s data slips that happen — we’ll hold ourselves accountable,” Fraser said.
Starting today, New Yorkers can visit MyCity.nyc.gov to access the online portal. MyCity — which officials previously also said would function as an app — isn't yet available to be downloaded to iPhones through the App Store.
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Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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