Boston Council Explores Tech Aid and Grant Program for Neighborhood Civic Groups

BOSTON — April 18, 2024 — Boston City Council explores technology aid and pilot grant program for civic associations. The Council's Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology convened April 18 on Docket 0189, a hearing order filed by District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell and co-sponsored by Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, to examine how the city can better support the hundreds of neighborhood civic groups that operate largely on volunteer labor and personal spending. Chief of Community Engagement Brianna Millor cited the administration's January 2024 Civic Summit — capped at 200 participants — as a foundation to expand, describing a three-word framework of "invest, equip, and empower." Civic leaders including Nina Johnson Letona of the Woodrow Avenue Neighborhood Association praised existing technical assistance in District 4, while Lisa Beatman of Mount Hope Canterbury Neighborhood Association and Melville Park Association president Bill McDonald described running meetings on iPhones with no institutional memory platform. Public commenters Elliot Laffer and Martin Roeder of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay warned that direct city funding risks compromising civic groups' independence as advocates, with Roeder calling the proposal rife with "time bombs and landmines." The committee took no votes; Worrell and Millor agreed to hold a working session to design a phased pilot, with no timeline or dollar figure formally committed.