Press Release

New York City Launches “Better Public Meetings NYC” to Reimagine Civic Participation in a Moment of Change

New York, NY — As New York City enters a new era of leadership and civic possibility, the New York City Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) today announced the launch of Better Public Meetings NYC, a new initiative designed to transform how New Yorkers participate in local decision-making through public meetings.

The project is part of the national Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings initiative, led by the National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation in partnership with Perfect City and funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.

The launch comes at a moment of renewed public energy and openness to change in New York City. .Better Public Meetings NYC aims to seize this opportunity by piloting new approaches that make public meetings more inclusive, productive, and meaningful for residents and public officials alike.

New York City is one of two new cities selected to participate in the project, building on prior pilots in Anchorage, Alaska; Boulder, Colorado; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Mesa, Arizona; and Rochester, Minnesota. Across these communities, the initiative has tested strategies to improve civic dialogue, reduce conflict, and strengthen trust between residents and local government.

“There’s a real sense of momentum in the country right now to rethink how government listens and responds,” said Benjamin Solotaire, Senior Advisor for the NYC Civic Engagement Commission. “Public meetings are the front door to civic participation, but too often they leave people frustrated or unheard. This project gives us the chance to think about new approaches that reflect the voices, experiences, and wisdom of the full community.

A New Approach to Public Meetings
Better Public Meetings NYC will focus on official public meetings, those subject to open meetings laws and involving elected or appointed decision-makers. The work will center on meetings convened by the Civic Engagement Commission and New York City Community Boards, while generating insights and tools applicable to public bodies across the city.

The first phase of the project will include:

Civic Infrastructure Scan. In-depth interviews and community-based research to understand how public meetings currently function, identify barriers to participation, and surface opportunities for innovation.
Civic Engagement Scorecard. A new digital tool that allows residents to evaluate and provide feedback on the quality, inclusiveness, and effectiveness of public meetings. The scorecard will be powered by ActiVote, a voter engagement and public opinion polling platform, and is being used at CEC as well as participating community board meetings between February 2026 and June 2026.

The project will also feature a collaboration with Perfect City, a New York City–based art and activism initiative led by performance-maker, writer, teacher, and organizer, Aaron Landsman. Perfect City’s participatory performance, City Council Meeting, reenacts real public meeting transcripts and invites facilitated dialogue that makes complex rules, procedures, and policy debates more accessible and more human. The performance offers a playful yet powerful way to imagine public meetings that are more civil, creative, and inclusive.

What’s Next
Throughout the first half of 2026, New Yorkers will be invited to participate in forums, performances, mapping sessions, and pilot projects designed to test new meeting formats and engagement strategies. Drawing on findings from the civic infrastructure scan and scorecard, as well as lessons from previous research, improvements in select public meetings will be developed by residents and staff, including but not limited to:

Small-group deliberation within public meetings
Digital tools that complement in-person participation
Enhanced facilitation and inclusive meeting formats
Creative outreach to communities historically underrepresented in civic processes

A second community meeting in mid-2026 will present a full set of recommendations and offer another opportunity for public feedback. The project could expand in late 2026 to test additional pilot practices across a wider range of New York City public meetings.

Get Involved
New Yorkers are encouraged to:

Fill out our Community Survey on civic engagement in NYC
Attend upcoming CEC or Community Board meetings and complete the Civic Engagement Scorecard.
Participate in a public forum around enhancing civic engagement in community boards and the CEC, including a civic arts performance by Perfect City in the summer of 2026.
Visit the project landing page for updates, events, and findings.

About the National Civic League

The mission of the National Civic League is to advance inclusive civic engagement and promote innovations in democracy to make decision-making more participatory, equitable, and effective. Founded in 1894 by Teddy Roosevelt and Louis Brandeis, the Civic League championed the democracy innovations of the early 20th Century. Today the League hosts the Center for Democracy Innovation (CDI), which works with communities across the U.S. to understand, test, and disseminate the next generation of civic innovations. The League also maintains the Model City Charter, organizes the All-America City Awards, publishes the National Civic Review, sustains the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map, helps cities measure their civic engagement work, and supports an extensive national network of local elected, appointed, and civic leaders. More information is available on our website, at www.ncl.org.

About Perfect City
Perfect City is a long-term art and activism project based in New York City. Led by artist and organizer Aaron Landsman, Perfect City uses participatory performance, storytelling, and collaborative research to help communities reimagine civic life. Their acclaimed production City Council Meeting—inspired by real transcripts—has been performed in five U.S. cities, offering audiences a chance to experience public meetings from new perspectives. The group continues to support civic transformation through creative toolkits and local partnerships.

About the Luce Foundation
The Henry Luce Foundation was formed in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder of Time, Fortune, and Life magazines. Their mission then and now is to transform the world by boosting access to knowledge and forward-thinking ideas.

About ActiVote
ActiVote is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing nonpartisan voter engagement platform, designed to make participating in democracy easier, more informed, and more accessible. ActiVote provides fact-based information about every election in which a user can vote—from school board races to federal offices—and offers unbiased comparisons of how a user’s policy preferences align with candidates’ publicly stated positions.

ActiVote is also a leader in high-quality public opinion research. Using rigorous weighting methods, ActiVote produces polling data that has been nationally recognized for accuracy.

In the 2024 election, ActiVote polls began to appear in the media and on prominent polling aggregators like FiveThirtyEight. ActiVote was ultimately recognized as the eighth most accurate pollster nationwide and the second most accurate in the presidential race. This same methodology powers the surveys used in communities through their partnership with the National Civic League.

About the Civic Engagement Commission
In November 2018, New York City voters approved three ballot initiatives proposed by the 2018 Charter Revision Commission, which established the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC). Per Chapter 76 of the NYC Charter(External link), the Commission will:

Run a citywide participatory budgeting program with guidance from a participatory budgeting advisory committee.
Partner with community-based organizations and civic leaders, increase awareness of City services, and assist New York City agencies in developing civic engagement initiatives;
Develop a plan to consider the language access needs of limited English proficient New Yorkers with regard to the Commission's programs and services and provide language interpreters at poll sites by the 2020 general election, with advice from a language assistance advisory committee; and
Provide assistance to community boards.

For more information, visit: https://www.activote.net/ncl-cecnyc-perfectcity/