Notify NYC is the City of New York’s official source for information about emergency events and important City services. It is a free service launched by the New York City Office of Emergency Management in 2007, allowing users to receive alerts through various communications devices, such as cell phones

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

, landlines

Landline

A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...

, email

Email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

, and RSS. Users can specify which alerts they would like to receive, and determine their specific location of interest with zip codes. Registration is free and simple. Notify NYC services residents and visitors to all five boroughs of the City of New York: Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, Staten Island

Staten Island

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

, and the Bronx.

Sponsored by the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (DoITT), Notify NYC was launched in May 2007 as a four-area pilot program. Participants provided feedback through surveys, customer service emails and calls to 311. Based on feedback from the original pilot, the first phase of Notify NYC services was launched citywide on May 28, 2009, offering free access to a variety of alert and notification services.

Notify NYC has extended its capability, allowing for any New York City agency to send out group-specific alerts and notifications. Interested candidates can contact Notify NYC to develop this free service for their agency. As of January 1, 2010, Notify NYC has partnered with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to provide expanded information on school delays, closings, and early dismissals. To receive school notifications and alerts, users must add the address of their child’s school, to their areas of interest in account settings. School addresses can be found by visiting the Department of Education website.

In 2011 a scheme for emergency notifications to mobile phones was announced.