One of the most frequent criticisms of San Francisco’s tech community is that the usefulness of its products is limited and exclusionary. The ecosystem there, people (particularly founders who have moved to New York from there) say, creates technology to solve the problems of those who live there, to wit: young, white, wealthy urbanites. There are plenty of ways to make sure you don’t miss your deliveries or rent art, but there’s a perception that startups that solve problems for people outside the Stanford pipeline are fewer, or at least less visible.

That’s why a new initiative by New York City government is particularly interesting. NYCx is offering money and support for startups to solve specific neighborhood problems. Two out of the first three challenges are in Brownsville.

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