Civic Hall Labs is the independent nonprofit¹ research and development arm of Civic Hall, a left-leaning nonprofit incubator and networking forum.²

Civic Hall Labs has raised over $5 million to carry out left-leaning policy goals³ and has partnered with over 100 New York-based predominantly left-of-center startup organizations or projects.⁴

Civic Hall Labs’ health lab gave out over $100,000 and provided technological mentorship to startups seeking to build operations that would address a number of left-leaning criminal justice, health, urban housing, education, civil liberties, and economic development related issues. ⁵

Civic Hall Labs also operates a pro bono tech program which pairs professional technologists with left-leaning organizations such as Immigration Equality, Sage Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders, and the Vera Institute of Justice which were seeking volunteer tech support.⁶

Civic Hall Labs also operates an incubator program for left-of-center startups and is a main partner in NYC’s Big Apps challenge, which in tandem with New York City’s Economic Development Corporation and Mayor Bill DeBlasio (D-N.Y.),⁷ provides funding and a spot in Civic Hall Labs incubator to the winning applications.⁸

Organizational Overview

Civic Hall Labs was created to foster development of technological tools that will help carry out left-leaning policy goals relating to “inequality, racism, civic atrophy, and other systemic failures.”⁹

Civic Hall Labs was co-founded by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry in 2015.¹⁰ Elizabeth Stewart served as the organization’s first executive director from August 2015 through December 2017.¹¹

In its first two years, Civic Hall Labs reportedly raised over $5.4 million from 25 sponsors or funders including a $4 million contribution from the left-leaning Omidyar Network Fund¹² and other contributions from the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Microsoft’s Cities Team.¹³

Programs

Health Lab Program

Civic Hall Labs operates a Health Lab Program that creates digital tools to advance left-leaning criminal justice, health, urban housing, education, civil liberties, and economic development related policy priorities. ¹⁴

Civic Hall Labs selected 10 predominantly left-leaning startups and gave those organizations $10,000 in seed money and six months of expert advising to develop their respective technology platforms.¹⁵

The Participatory Budget Project, using the Civic Hall Labs Health Lab seed money, created an application that would help under-resourced communities make budgeting decisions and access a “significant amount” of new government funding.¹⁶ Reported PD, another Health Lab project, sought to ease and strengthen misconduct complaints against police officers.¹⁷ JustFix.nyc sought to use its funding to create an app that would facilitate tenant organizing, making it easier to form new tenant associations, and Heat Seek NYC sought to make it easier for tenants at risk of eviction to find attorneys to fight the proceedings.¹⁸

Other Health Lab grantee organizations include Hollaback!, Article 25, Looped, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, the Good Men Project, and NYC Councilmatic.¹⁹

Pro Bono Tech Program

Civic Hall Labs operates a Pro Bono Tech Program also known as Delta.nyc. This program enables digital professionals to volunteer and build the technology infrastructure²⁰ necessary to operate and grow the digital projects of Civic Hall Labs’ endorsed organizations.²¹

Civic Hall Labs’ Delta.NYC program has provided technical infrastructure support to 14 predominantly left-leaning New York City-based organizations in 2017, including: the Association For Neighborhood Housing, the Fortune Society, Immigration Equality, HELP USA, Sage Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders, and the Vera Institute of Justice. ²²

In 2018, Civic Hall Labs selected 15 organizational partners including, All in Together, the Citizens’ Committee for Children, the Educational Alliance, Generation Citizen, I’ll Go First, OutRight Action International, the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and Streetlives.²³

CivicXcel Program

Civic Hall Labs operated the CivicXcel program to incubate and provide mentorship to startup companies that seek to provide community services.

In 2017, CivicXcel incubator connected technology expert mentors to seven startup companies. Through this program, BlacPac sought to create a web-application to send more black students to college. DollarVan.nyc sought to increase low-cost transportation for people living in neighborhoods poorly served by public transportation. FAMin, sought to create an application whereby needy individuals could seek crowdfunding to pay for their children’s expenses.²⁴

Big Apps Contest

Civic Hall Labs is a main partner in the NYC Big Apps challenge, a competition that seeks to identify digital applications that can provide transportation, information, and “community resiliency” services to New York City’s youth, seniors, and immigrants.²⁵

Winners of the contest receive $15,000 in cash, a six-month mentorship program through Civic Hall Labs CivicXcel program, and pro bono legal services from the BakerHostetler law firm.²⁶

Civic Hall Labs main partner for the competition is the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and in 2017 New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio hosted the announcement of the contest winners.²⁷ A number of New York City Departments are also partners, including the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Department of Aging, Department of Education, and NYC Health, along with a number of other corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners.²⁸

People

Elizabeth Stewart served for two years as Civic Hall Lab’s founding executive director. Prior to joining the organization Stewart co-founded Impact Hub Los Angeles and then the Los Angeles-based Civic Innovation Lab.²⁹

Civic Hall Labs’ senior advisory board is comprised of a number of prominent left-leaning digital activists and authors including Code for America executive Director Jennifer Pahlka, New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas, and “Daily Show” producer Baratunde Thurston.³⁰

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax: Civic Hall Labs, Inc. 2016. Accessed March 15, 2018. http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/474/474897004/474897004_201612_990.pdf
2. Baram, Marcus. “New nonprofit, Civic Hall Labs, aims to build tech for the public good.” Fast Company. June 9, 2016. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.fastcompany.com/4009759/new-nonprofit-civic-hall-labs-aims-to-build-tech-for-the-public-good
3. Stewart, Elizabeth. “A Fond Farewell.” Civic Hall Labs Blog. December 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
4. Stewart, Elizabeth. “A Fond Farewell.” Civic Hall Labs Blog. December 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
5. “Approach.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/approach/
6. “Past Projects: Delta.NYC, Pro Bono Tech.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/pro-bono-tech-1/  
7. “Mayor De Blasio Announces 2017 NYC Bigapps Winners.” Civic Hall Labs Website. May 25, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/2017/5/25/mayor-de-blasio-announces-2017-nyc-bigapps-winners
8. “Mayor De Blasio Announces 2017 NYC Bigapps Winners.” Civic Hall Labs Website. May 25, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/2017/5/25/mayor-de-blasio-announces-2017-nyc-bigapps-winners
9. “Announcing Civic Hall Labs: Tech for Public Good.” Civic Hall Labs Website. June 9, 2016. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1469124055431
10. Stewart, Elizabeth. “A Fond Farewell.” Civic Hall Labs Blog. December 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
11. Stewart, Elizabeth. “A Fond Farewell.” Civic Hall Labs Blog. December 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
12. “New York City’s Civic Hall to Grow Civic Tech Ecosystem with $4 million in New Funding.” Omidyar Network Website. December 5, 2016. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.omidyar.com/news/new-york-citys-civic-hall-grow-civic-tech-ecosystem-4-million-new-funding
13. Stewart, Elizabeth. “A Fond Farewell.” Civic Hall Labs Blog. December 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
14. “Approach.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/approach/
15. “How Can We Create the Conditions for Better Experimentation and Innovation?” Civic Hall labs Website. October 5, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?tag=civic+cohesion
16. “Even a Small Amount of Funding Is Enough for Civic Innovators to Take Risks.” October 12, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
17. “Building Trust Between Officers and a Community.” October 23, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?offset=1505485912968&reversePaginate=true
18. “Health Lab.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/health-lab/
19. “How Can We Create the Conditions for Better Experimentation and Innovation?” Civic Hall labs Website. October 5, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/?tag=civic+cohesion
20. “Approach.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/approach/
21. Delta.NYC: Pro Bono Tech. “About.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/probonotech/about
22. “Past Projects: Delta.NYC, Pro Bono Tech.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/pro-bono-tech-1/  
23. Delta.NYC: Pro Bono Tech. “2018 Partners.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/probonotech/about
24. “civicXCel.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/civicxcel-cohort/
25. “Big Apps NYC 2017.” Big Apps NYC Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. http://www.bigapps.nyc/
26. “Mayor De Blasio Announces 2017 NYC Bigapps Winners.” Civic Hall Labs Website. May 25, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/2017/5/25/mayor-de-blasio-announces-2017-nyc-bigapps-winners
27. “Mayor De Blasio Announces 2017 NYC Bigapps Winners.” Civic Hall Labs Website. May 25, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/blog/2017/5/25/mayor-de-blasio-announces-2017-nyc-bigapps-winners
28. “Big Apps NYC 2017: Partners.” Big Apps NYC Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018.http://www.bigapps.nyc/partners/
29. Stewart, Elizabeth. Linkedin Page. Linkedin.com website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizstewart/
30. “Senior Advisors.” Civic Hall Labs Website. Undated. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.civichalllabs.org/senior-advisors/