One year into the current federal administration, the civic tech landscape has been fundamentally reshaped by radical shifts in policy, massive personnel changes, and a re-evaluation of how technology serves—or surveils—the public. While the initial shocks of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have settled into a new, often grueling reality, the community remains committed to building a government that is effective, transparent, and human-centered.
We’ve noticed community members joining or being recruited through CyberCorps, United States DOGE Service, National Design Studio, TechForce, and individual outreach efforts for roles in the General Services Administration and Department of Education.
Some are joining out of necessity to pay their bills. Others are joining because they think it’s a place for them to serve their communities. While opinions vary on whether to join right now, we want to support those who do.
What you can expect:
- You may face ethical dilemmas, particularly when it comes to data extraction, consolidation, and privacy. Projects may be co-opted for surveillance.
- Tremendous amounts of institutional knowledge and work has disappeared meaning less opportunities to learn from and with seasoned leaders.
- The environment may be hostile to civic tech values as we’ve seen decimation of the ideologies behind best practice around user experience, specifically accessibility, language access, and well-researched design systems.
- And, lack of trust from other parts of government and the American people when trying to implement your projects.
History shows that crises often precede the building of stronger institutions. As one technologist noted, “Take the Federal Reserve: it took the Great Depression to build an institution that could withstand similar crises. I’m not saying this is a silver lining, because so many people are going to be harmed, but it can’t be for nothing.”
Now is the time to imagine a more resilient civic tech infrastructure with better protection from political interference and deeper embedding in government operations. So many of us have had ideas on how to do this for years; let’s put those ideas together and get started now.
The fundamental question facing civic tech in 2026 isn’t technical—it’s political and moral: Who should technology serve?
Lambert here: Indeed.
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