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ACCESS NYC
ACCESS NYC provides a mobile-friendly front door for New Yorkers to screen for benefit and program eligibility, learn how to apply, gather required documents, and find local help.
Target Audience
Benefits-seeking residents in NYC, especially those identified as groups who may need additional support such as:
- Residents with low digital literacy
- Residents with limited technology access, especially those who are mobile dependent
- Residents who do not speak fluent English
- Residents with limited visual capabilities
Project Website
Project Partners
30+ City, State, and Federal Agencies
Key Features
Eligibility Screening
Check potential eligibility for over 44 benefits in 10 easy steps. Text or email your eligibility results.
Program Guides
Get information for over 70 city, state, and federal benefits and services. Details include: how a program works, how to qualify, what documents are needed, options for how to apply (online, phone, mail, in-person), and how to find in-person help.
Languages
ACCESS NYC is translated into English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Traditional), French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu. In 2017, ACCESS NYC was the first website in the City to be fully compliant under Local Law 30, which requires documents and services distributed to the public by City agencies be made available in 11 languages.
How We Manage ACCESS NYC
Since launching the redesigned ACCESS NYC in 2017, the Product Team at the Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity continues to engage residents, social workers, case managers, and government agency staff to improve and expand its services. The current design and core user experience were created in-house, and information about each benefit was standardized, and made available both through ACCESS NYC and the Benefits and Programs API, a dataset that includes benefit, program, and resource information on health and human services available to New York City residents.
Technology Powering ACCESS NYC
ACCESS NYC and its underlying content are available as open-source code and data. The ACCESS NYC eligibility screener is a single page web application powered by an API built on the Drools Business Rules Management System hosted on Amazon Web Services through the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Additional benefit program content is delivered by WordPress, an open-source content management system, and hosted on WP Engine. All benefit program information on ACCESS NYC is publicly available through the Benefits and Programs API on the City of New York's Open Data portal.
The ACCESS NYC Design System utilizes patterns from the U.S. Web Design System, the Bourbon SASS Tool Set, and a Tailwind.css Utility Framework.
Awards & Recognition
- ACCESS NYC and Public Engagement Unit Receive a 2025 Government Experience Award from the Center for Digital Government | 9/23/2025
- ACCESS NYC Receives "2020 Government Experience Award" Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 09/30/2020
- ACCESS NYC Is Named "City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge" Winner Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 12/11/2019
- ACCESS NYC Receives Award for "Best Application Serving The Public" Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 9/22/2017
Read More About ACCESS NYC
- NYC Opportunity and the Public Engagement Unit Partner for Facilitated Benefits Screening and Enrollment
Blog Post | Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 4/10/2018 - Case Study of ACCESS NYC - Part 1
Blog Post | Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 3/8/2018 - Case Study of ACCESS NYC - Part 2
Blog Post | Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 3/13/2018 - Increasing Online Language Accessibility: ACCESS NYC Now in Eleven Languages
Blog Post | Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity | 2/14/2018 - Rebuilding ACCESS NYC with Blue State Digital
Article | Torque: A Publication by WPEngine | 2/14/2018