New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has launched Public Interest Technology Crews, small teams of engineers and designers intended to improve city services through rapidly built, user-focused digital tools. The initiative matters because it seeks to apply the public-service technology model associated with the former US Digital Service at city level, while positioning government technology as distinct from commercial Big Tech priorities.

The programme will comprise five teams working with city agencies, backed by a $5.24 million budget and a further $2 million Rockefeller Foundation grant for one crew. City chief technology officer Lisa Gelobter, who previously worked at the US Digital Service, is leading the effort and says it aims to recreate that organisation’s practical, engineering-led approach; the article contrasts this with the disruption of the US Digital Service during the Trump administration’s DOGE programme.