In May of 2015, Albuquerque was selected by Living Cities as one of the six U.S. cities to implement a City Accelerator program. This program seeks to inspire innovative methods of creating economic opportunities for low-income populations across the country. Initially, the City Acceler- ator in Albuquerque focused on the business climate for local immigrant entrepreneurs. But in true “listen, learn, adapt, and get back” fashion, feedback from a series of community Deep Dives expanded the scope to include tribal entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in arts and culture.

The Deep Dives confirmed a hunch that has been prevalent throughout the Albuquerque Integration Initiative process: that already existing support organizations in Albuquerque, if more interconnected, can make a huge impact on low-income populations. Frank Mirabal, one of the City’s leads on the project, said, “Participants in these Deep Dives were saying, ‘We need to meet with each other. We need to know what is going on and where.’ And once you have data like this you feel more confident about your hunches.”

This hunch-turned-evidence has taken Albuquerque’s City Accelerator on a path to explore civic tech as a tool to connect low-income populations with resources to start and grow businesses. Technology and social networks are changing many aspects of how we live, work and play, and Albuquerque is developing new approaches to increase access and drive economic development in our communities through accessible and innovative new tools. “We’re exploring civic tech as a way to complement the navigator program and assist the folks who are seeking to further business potential by connecting to supportive networks and new pathways to capital.” Said Jacob Sanchez, the Project Manager for Albuquerque’s City Accelerator, “We suspect that civic tech will provide navigators and the public with an interface that can be used to more quickly and easily navigate and engage existing resources.”