CTO Fraser and Hayes Prize Foundation Announce Second Annual Hayes Innovation Prize Winners

March 13, 2024

NEW YORK – New York City Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Matthew Fraser and Jonathan Weiner, president of the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation, last night honored 19 city employees with the second annual NYC Hayes Innovation Prize for their paradigm-shifting solutions to the city’s most pressing challenges. The winning projects — originating from 13 city entities — provided shelter and legal status to migrants, enhanced access to social service benefits, digitized millions of vital records, and raised wages for delivery workers, among other significant accomplishments. Honorees were selected from among 77 nominations, and each received $1,000 cash prizes, which were funded by the foundation. The New York City Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) and the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation co-sponsored the awards.

“The Hayes Innovation Prize is a powerful reminder that city government remains a place for innovation and a hub for bright, new ideas,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “These city employees represent the best our city has to offer, bringing their bold ideas to the table to address the most pressing challenges facing New Yorkers. I applaud this year’s recipients who went above and beyond, and exemplify what it means to be a true public servant.”

“This year’s Hayes Prize winners remind the world what those of us in city government have long known – there is no stopping New York City’s talented workforce,” said CTO Fraser. “With the leadership of Mayor Adams, we are addressing urgent challenges, building efficiency in service delivery, and driving innovation to benefit New Yorkers. OTI, in partnership with the Hayes Prize Foundation, once again celebrates excellence across the city.”

“We are pleased to recognize these impressive public servants, whose innovative contributions at relatively early stages of their careers have remarkably helped make government work better for New Yorkers,” said Jonathan Weiner, president, Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation. “They join a distinguished group of Hayes Prize winners. We are grateful to Mayor Adams and his administration, particularly Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser and the Office of Technology and Innovation, whose partnership with the Foundation now in its second year has markedly expanded the impact of the Prize throughout city government.”

In March 2023, OTI and the Hayes Prize Foundation launched the Hayes Innovation Prize with a ceremony at Gracie Mansion recognizing 15 city employees whose bold initiatives made substantial impacts on their agencies and the city. Prior to this new citywide award, the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Foundation has annually recognized the superlative achievements of New York City’s public servants since 2005. A panel consisting of past winners of the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize and the former CTO’s Technology & Innovation Award selected this year's Hayes Innovation Prize winners, which were divided into categories for IT Leadership and Innovation.

This year’s prize winners are (in alphabetical order):

Alicia Berenyi and Ann Cheng of the Office to the Chief Counsel to the Mayor and the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Planning, who created the Asylum Application Help Center, a groundbreaking initiative in the legal services space that helped migrants file over 35,000 applications for immigration statuses and work authorizations. The center aids migrants on their path toward stability and prosperity by providing individualized support from trained application assistants, as well as help from experienced immigrations lawyers and interpreters on site.
Shanise Brown of the Department of Social Services (DSS), who manages ACCESS HRA, a client-facing platform that facilitates access for 3 million New Yorkers to social service benefits such as cash assistance, SNAP benefits, discounted MetroCards, housing assistance and more. The portal has received more than 20,000 renewals for Medicaid benefits since deploying a new submission channel for older adults and people living with disabilities in April 2023.
Sridhar Doraikannu of the Office of Technology & Innovation (OTI), who led an initiative to secure and improve performance of the city’s IT systems, resulting in a 97% improvement in database patching duration. This automation ensures the continuous availability and security of over 800 databases that serve more than 30 city agencies.
Courtney Dunn and Laquisha Grant of the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH), who led the piloting and ongoing expansion of B-Heard, a crisis response program that meets the moment by making health professionals the default responders to thousands of 911 calls, treating mental health crises as public health issues – not public safety problems.
Rachel Eisenberg and Tyler Peter of the Department of Transportation (DOT), who used geospatial data to create a GIS webmap to oversee the process of making New York City’s bus stops more accessible. The team has reviewed more than 3,000 bus stops and completed more than 50 accessibility improvements since launching the Bus Stop Accessibility review tool.
Lauren Glick of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), who leads FDNY’s mapping of its extensive fiber installation project, which helps connect every firehouse, every EMS station, and every 911 call center in the city.
Annie Gurvis of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, who coordinated emergency shelter for over 6,000 people across five temporary shelters, building and maintaining a database of each site to track its preparedness status and ensure it was up to building safety standards. Annie now works for the Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer.
Weiren (Will) Hsiao of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, who built the Capital Projects Dashboard, providing the first comprehensive and publicly accessible view of the city’s capital portfolio, including budget and schedule data for over 1,500 projects. This tool ensures transparency on all capital projects, making information on community-scale projects like smaller parks, cultural institutions, and libraries readily available.
Samuel Krinsky of the Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection (DCWP), who oversaw DCWP’s Minimum Pay Study, which incorporated analysis of data from restaurant delivery apps and a multilingual survey to tens of thousands of app-based restaurant delivery workers. The study formed the basis of the New York State Supreme Court’s ruling to increase minimum pay for delivery workers to $17.96 per hour, a rate that will increase to $19.96 per hour by 2025.
Joseph Luciano of the Department of Social Services (DSS), who developed the Food Help NYC Map, a data project that connects New Yorkers to soup kitchens and food pantries that offer free food.
Anne Schuster of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), who overhauled public health survey methods, implementing a more efficient and minimally invasive process of mailing self-collection kits to participants.
Maxwell Siegel of the Department of Transportation (DOT), who created DOT’s Analytics Platform, helping to forecast performance of the department’s programs and inform decisionmakers by conducting location-based analyses.
Balraj Talawant and Mohammad Tazdier of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), who transformed HPD Online to create a user-friendly site for tenants and prospective tenants to gain a clear understanding of residential buildings across the five boroughs.
Gary Zhou and Jonathan Yu of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), who since 2015 have digitized more than 13 million birth, death, and marriage documents through the NYC Historical Vital Records Project, welcoming more than 4,500 unique visitors in their first week alone.

The finalists for this year’s awards include:

Steph Halpin of NYC Service
Daniel Khalilov of the NYC Office of the Actuary
Idisha Odama of the Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection

“After working on the COVID crisis for the city, Annie volunteered to support the lives of the newest New Yorkers,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Through deft coordination across city agencies and offices, she led the creation of nearly 6,000 shelter beds for migrants, devised a new process for developing emergency shelter sites, and kept track of whether thousands of others sites were viable, better equipping New York City for future emergencies. She acted with a dedication, inventiveness, and selflessness that is the model of civil service, and we look forward to seeing her house more New Yorkers through her existing housing portfolio.”

“New York’s streets are some of the highest-demand spaces on the planet; we need our very best and brightest on the case to make them welcoming, efficient and safe,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “Luckily, New York's civic employees are exactly that, crafting innovative data bases and maps to empower their colleagues with tools to better manage our investments in the city's infrastructure. My deepest congratulations – and thanks-- to this year's Hayes prize winners, who make our city not only better to work for, but better to live in.”

“Alicia and Ann created a first-of-its kind, nation-leading Asylum Application Help Center, enabling 35,000 migrants and their families to apply for asylum or work authorization,” said Chief Counsel to the Mayor Lisa Zornberg. “Their work represents the very best of innovative public service. I’m incredibly proud of Alicia and Ann, and of the Help Center they turned into reality.”

“In a big, complicated city where a call can come from anywhere, 911 call centers, EMS responders, and FDNY firefighters need to get information in a matter of seconds,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. “Lauren’s work on the fiber optic project ensures that we have strong, stable communications on a modern network and is a testament to the innovation present in the FDNY. Thank you to Mayor Adams, OTI, and the Hayes Foundation for recognizing this critical behind the scenes work.”

“Congratulations to Rachel Eisenberg and Tyler Peter for the dozens of projects they completed to make bus stops more accessible and to Maxwell Siegel for pioneering the DOT's Analytics program, streamlining analytical data to better inform our agency,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “These three DOT employees highlight why NYC DOT is leading the charge in transportation innovation across the nation. I’m so proud of their well-deserved recognition in receiving the Hayes Prize, and for their excellence in leveraging technology to ensure our agency is best meeting the needs of residents and taxpayers.”

“Public health is, above all, data driven,” said DOHMH Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “The surveys that Anne supports gives us critical insights into everything from food insecurity to reproductive health. Moreover, she has dramatically reduced the data collection time, which helps us respond more quickly to emerging issues. This work is too often unsung, yet Anne and her colleagues are absolutely heroes, and their innovations directly support how we serve the public.”

“Technological innovation lies at the heart of our agency’s ongoing efforts to strengthen access to social services and ensure that we are reaching every New Yorker in need,” said DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park. “We are incredibly proud that DSS’s Joseph Luciano and Shanise Brown are being recognized for their tremendous work building key efficiencies and enhancing Food Help NYC and ACCESS HRA as low-income New Yorkers increasingly rely on these online resources to access critical supports and benefits. We are grateful to the Office of Technology & Innovation for being an excellent partner in our efforts to continually raise the bar on our delivery of services. This year’s Hayes Innovation Prize honorees exemplify the exceptional talent across city government helping pioneer creative solutions and keeping New York City at the forefront of technological progress.”

"We are thrilled to see our very own Sam Krinsky recognized through the Hayes Innovation Prize,” said DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga. “Sam’s leadership in designing a comprehensive study of the app-based restaurant delivery industry led to the development of a $19.96 per hour Minimum Pay Rate. The Minimum Pay Rate more than doubles pay for our city’s 60,000 app-based restaurant delivery workers, so they can support themselves and their loved ones. Thank you to OTI and the Hayes Innovation Prize for recognizing Sam’s extraordinary work, which demonstrates how City government can use creative analytics to improve working peoples’ lives.”

“The Municipal Archives has a treasure trove of historical City government records. Some of the most used are historical birth, death, and marriage records,” said DORIS Commissioner Pauline Toole. “Gary Zhou and Jonathan Yu built a platform that allows people from around the world to access and print these records, at no cost. They coordinated with archival staff and other members of the development team on this successful effort.”

“The pioneering work of the B-HEARD initiative has not only transformed our city’s approach to mental health crises but has also redefined compassionate and responsive care in our communities.” says OCMH Executive Director Eva Wong. “I’m incredibly proud that Courtney Dunn and Laquisha Grant are being recognized with the NYC Hayes Innovation Prize, a testament to their unwavering commitment to service and innovation. They’ve shown that with courage and creativity, we can meet the moment and transform lives. To both of them as well as all who are a part of B-HEARD, I extend my heartfelt congratulations and thanks.”

About the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Foundation

The Frederick O'Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation is supported by private donations from former city employees and officials, many of whom worked for or with Frederick O'Reilly Hayes, the city's budget director in the late 1960s. Fred was a visionary who encouraged innovation, analysis, and commitment to the excellent management and delivery of public services. He was also dedicated to recruiting and mentoring young talent in city government. For more information about Fred's life and the Frederick O'Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation, visit the website at https://hayesprize.innovation.nyc.