Citizenry pilots civic discovery platform in Jackson Hole

A New York-based nonprofit is testing a personalized platform in Jackson Hole to help residents find local volunteer work, events, classes and civic opportunities. The pilot is designed to help nonprofits reach new audiences and make it easier for people to get involved beyond donations.

Why it matters: - Citizenry aims to make local civic participation easier to find, which could help people move from passive interest to action. - The platform also gives smaller nonprofits another way to reach people who are not already in their networks. - Jackson Hole is a useful test case because the valley has a dense civic culture, but participation still depends on people knowing where to look.

What happened: - Citizenry launched a pilot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Sept. 14, 2026. - The New York-based nonprofit says the platform brings together more than 200 organizations across the valley. - The pilot includes hundreds of events, classes, workshops, volunteer opportunities, programs, resources and civic updates. - The service uses a recommendation engine to surface opportunities based on a user’s goals and interests. - The pilot is available at the Jackson pilot site.

The details: - Citizenry compares its approach to recommendation systems used by streaming and dating platforms. - The platform is intended to surface organizations and opportunities people might not otherwise find. - Founder Dominic Ramos-Ruiz said local nonprofit leaders often pointed to physical bulletin boards as an effective way to reach people outside their usual circles. - Citizenry is designed as a digital version of that bulletin board, with matching based on what individuals care about. - Users can find conservation projects, volunteer roles, classes, workshops, arts events, affordable housing resources, Town Council meetings, board or commission openings and requests for specific professional skills. - Users can also follow organizations they already support and receive updates from them. - The platform is aimed at civic groups that have limited time and resources for outreach. - A 2025 Points of Light report found that just 0.19% of U.S. grant funding over the past decade explicitly supported volunteer engagement. - Citizenry says that funding gap shows how little is invested in infrastructure that helps organizations build lasting support.

Between the lines: - Jackson gives Citizenry a smaller, highly engaged market than New York City, where the nonprofit first saw the need for better discovery. - The pilot is also a test of whether shared technology can do for civic participation what shared fundraising infrastructure has done for giving in the valley. - Nearly 2,000 people visited Citizenry in the first few days of the Jackson pilot, and local organizations began asking to be included. - That early response suggests demand on both sides: people looking for ways to engage and nonprofits looking for reach.

What's next: - Citizenry will use the Jackson pilot to see whether personalized discovery can increase participation in local civic life. - Ramos-Ruiz said the goal is not more time on the platform, but real-world action such as volunteering, joining a board, attending a meeting or taking a class. - The broader test is whether the model can help people discover organizations and opportunities they did not know existed.

The bottom line: - Citizenry is betting that better matching, not more browsing, can help communities turn civic interest into civic action.