By Kelly Faircloth 8/13/12 1:45pm

Kickstart It

Discover NYC.

The New York City Council Now Using Kickstarter For Community Development

Is there anyone who isn’t on Kickstarter these days? The latest bandwagon-jumpers: The New York City Council, which has partnered with the artsy crowdfunding platform to create a landing page that highlights New York City-based projects.

The move is positioned as a way to help business owners in low-income neighborhoods get access to hard-to-find capital, a persistent problem.

Remember when microlending was going to solve everything? Now it’s crowdfunding. Wonder what it’ll be in five years?  Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 7/18/12 3:45pm

Silicon Alley U

The crisp Ms. Quinn.

Christine Quinn Introduces a Cheaper Computer Science Option for NYC Students

It was merely mid-morning when Betabeat arrived at enterprise-focused accelerator Tipping Point Parters for a presser, and already everyone in attendance seemed to be wilting. The exception: City Council Speaker (and, let us not forget, mayoral candidate) Christine Quinn, who looked downright jovial. Perhaps she was just that excited about her coming announcement.

Or perhaps she was simply thrilled to be wearing what looked like seersucker, while the rest of us suffered in the heat.

We were gathered into a rather claustrophobic–but very well air-conditioned–startup space, complete with white lighting fixtures and random whiteboard. The occasion: The creation of two new programs meant to feed engineers and other much-needed tech talent into the city’s startup sector. Read More