Privacy Policy

Introduction

CityHelp Inc. ("CityHelp," "we," "our," "us") is a Delaware nonprofit corporation, fiscally sponsored by Tides Foundation. We built Sam - our AI navigator at cityhelp.center - to help New Yorkers find social services.

This policy describes what we collect, how we use it, and what we do not do. Questions? sam@cityhelp.center.

Our privacy commitments

• Sam does not require an account, login, or profile. We do not ask for your name, Social Security number, immigration status, address, or phone number to answer questions.
• We do not sell your information or run advertising on the site.
• We do not share identifiable information with government agencies except when required by law (for example, a valid court order).

What we collect

Sam conversations

When you chat with Sam, we send your messages to our AI provider (OpenAI) to generate a reply. We also store messages in our database with a random session ID so Sam can remember context during your visit. We do not tie chats to a named account unless you choose to share identifying details in the conversation.

Please avoid sharing sensitive personal information in chat when you can. If you do, it may be stored as part of that session's message history.

Volunteer waitlist

If you join our volunteer waitlist, we collect the fields you submit (such as name, email, phone, zip code, and borough) and store them in our database. We use that information only to run the waitlist and follow up with you.

Hosting and technical data

Like most websites, our hosting provider (Vercel) and related infrastructure may process standard technical data - such as IP address, browser type, and request logs - to deliver the site, prevent abuse, and keep the service secure. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Browser storage

Sam remembers that you accepted our Terms of Use using your browser's local storage (not advertising cookies). You can clear this anytime through your browser settings.

How we use information

We use information to:

• Operate Sam and the website
• Improve Sam and fix problems
• Run the volunteer waitlist and respond to you
• Share aggregate, non-identifying usage summaries with funders (for example, topic trends or total question volume)
• Meet legal obligations and protect the service from abuse

Who we share with

We share data only with service providers that help us run CityHelp - including cloud hosting, our database, email delivery (for volunteer confirmations), and OpenAI for Sam's responses. They may use the data only to provide services to us, subject to their own terms and policies.

We may also disclose information if required by law or if we believe disclosure is necessary to prevent serious harm.

Retention

We keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above - for example, while you are on the volunteer waitlist, while we operate and improve Sam, or as required by law. You can ask us to delete volunteer waitlist information you submitted by emailing sam@cityhelp.center.

Security

We use reasonable technical measures to protect information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) to the site. No online service is perfectly secure; we work to reduce risk but cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

Sam is for users age 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted information to us, email sam@cityhelp.center and we will delete it. Users aged 13–17 should review this policy with a parent or trusted adult. See also our Terms of Use.

Your choices

You can stop using Sam at any time. You can ask what information we have about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete waitlist information you provided, by emailing sam@cityhelp.center. We will respond within a reasonable time.

Third-party links

Sam may link to government agencies, nonprofits, and other sites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

Changes

We may update this policy. The date at the top shows the latest version. Continued use of the site after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: sam@cityhelp.center

This Privacy Policy is provided for general informational purposes and should be reviewed by a licensed attorney before being relied upon as the operative privacy policy for CityHelp Inc.