The HeroByApp™ Community Heroes Program, by CityByApp™ Inc. × ByApp.ai, honors one extraordinary community leader from each U.S. state, recognized at the state capital. Each ceremony activates a verified civic publishing platform across that state — open to every government agency, nonprofit, and business. Indiana is state #1.
Everything a journalist needs in one place. All numbers verified against authoritative public sources.
The first of 50 ceremonies. State #1 of the Founding 50. Honoring a 22-year veteran whose civic legacy spans Vietnam, Desert Storm, and the Indiana Veterans Hall of Fame.
Sergeant Major Mary L. Aurtrey (Ret.)
Certificate No. HBA-2026-IN-01 · Hero #1
Julia Carson Government Center
Conference Room C, 2nd floor · Indianapolis, Indiana
On a single 60-minute ceremony, the State of Indiana converts from “addressable market” to active platform:
Jerome Mark Mikulich — Founder & CEO, CityByApp™ Inc. × ByApp.ai. 30+ years in tech, sales, and civic innovation. CityByApp™ has been operational since 2013.
Pull-quotes the team has approved for press use. Attributable as written.
“We’re honoring 50 community heroes — one from each state, recognized at each state capital — and through that honor, activating the civic infrastructure that serves every citizen, community, nonprofit, and business in their state. Local honor. Global impact.”
“Hardware vendors light up streets. We power the rails the boxes run on. Every civic vendor — Intellistreets, Cisco, Honeywell, Siemens — needs a verified civic publishing platform to orchestrate, audit, and serve citizens. We’re that backbone.”
“CityByApp™ has the potential to transform the way municipalities engage with their communities — the best platform made specifically to connect city information directly with citizens.”
Every cited claim and figure in our cinematic intro, on the main site, and in journalist briefings routes back to this page. Each receipt names the authoritative source, the methodology, the published figure, and a direct outbound link. If a number changes at the source, we update the receipt and the on-site claim together — never one without the other.
Stat 1 — 65% support labeling all AI-generated content.
"Sixty-five percent of Americans favor technology companies labeling all AI generated content made on their platforms."
Source: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research & University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Nationwide poll conducted October 19–23, 2023; full coverage published 2024.
View AP-NORC: There Is Bipartisan Concern About the Use of AI in the 2024 Elections →
Stat 2 — 64% are not confident AI chatbot or search information is reliable.
"Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans are not confident that the information from AI chatbots or search results is reliable and factual."
Source: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research & USAFacts. Nationwide poll conducted via NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, July 29 – August 8, 2024 (n=1,019 adults age 18+).
View AP-NORC / USAFacts press release (PDF) →
Stat 3 — 62% lack confidence in U.S. government to regulate AI effectively.
"62% of U.S. adults … have not too much or no confidence in the government to regulate AI effectively."
Source: Pew Research Center. How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence. Surveys of U.S. adults and a separate panel of AI experts; report published April 3, 2025.
Stat 1 — 53% of mayors struggle with a fragmented media landscape.
"53% [of mayors] report a struggle to wade through the maze of an increasingly fragmented media landscape that’s rife with misinformation."
Source: Bloomberg Center for Cities at Johns Hopkins University — Beyond the Noise: How to Engage Residents Effectively. Bloomberg Philanthropies mayoral survey, published October 30, 2024.
View Bloomberg Center for Cities — Beyond the Noise →
Stat 2 — 44% of mayors lack sufficient feedback loops with residents.
"44% [of mayors] say they lack sufficient feedback loops with residents." (60% also believe polarization in their cities is "more extreme than ever.")
Source: Bloomberg Center for Cities at Johns Hopkins University — same report (October 30, 2024).
View Bloomberg Center for Cities — Beyond the Noise →
Stat 3 — Only ~25% of Americans are highly satisfied with local political news quality.
"Among Americans who get news about local government and politics, a quarter report being extremely or very satisfied with the quality of news they get on that topic — a lower level of satisfaction than for just about any other topic included in the survey." (63% are satisfied with local weather news, by comparison.) Only 45% of U.S. adults say it is very or somewhat easy to find the information they need to make voting decisions in local elections.
Source: Pew Research Center — Attitudes Toward Local Political News: Interest, Satisfaction, and Ease of Access. Published July 24, 2024.
View Pew Research Center — Local Political News (July 2024) →
Stat 4 — Americans now consume local news across 5+ competing channels.
"32% prefer TV (down from 41% in 2018); 23% social media (up from 15%); 26% news websites; 52% online forums like Facebook groups (up from 38%); 33% online-only sources (up from 15%)." Only 22% follow local news very closely — a 15-point decline since 2016.
Source: Pew Research Center — Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News. Published May 7, 2024.
View Pew Research Center — Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News (May 2024) →
Stat 1 — Federal patchwork at the highest level: over 100 unique core HR systems.
Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management — Director Scott Kupor, “Modernization is Essential to Effectively Manage the Executive Branch” (March 18, 2026 OPM essay).
Exact quote: “There are currently over 100 unique core human capital management systems across the federal government… this ‘patchwork of aging, siloed systems… suffer from significant functional and architectural limitations.’”
Stat 2 — 80% of $100B annual federal IT budget spent maintaining outdated systems.
Source: Partnership for Public Service, “Vision for a Better Government” (Aug 2024, updated Apr 2026), citing 2023 GAO High Risk List.
Citizen impact (same source): Only 23% of Americans believe federal government services are easy to navigate. Only 15% believe the federal government is transparent. The federal government ranked last among 10 major economic sectors in the 2023 American Customer Satisfaction Index (score 68.2). Satisfaction with online government services lags satisfaction with online private-sector services by almost 20%.
Stat 3 — Only 22% of federal IT systems are fully post-transformation.
Source: EY 2026 Government & Public Sector Federal Trends Report (survey of 100+ U.S. federal agency leaders), reported by The Institute of Internal Auditors, May 19, 2026.
Detail: 22% report majority of IT systems are fully post-transformation. 26% acknowledge systems remain largely legacy-based. Top transformation barriers: workforce skills gap (44%), slow procurement (32%), cybersecurity threats (32%). 88% cite AI as critical for modernization but only 38% report a comprehensive AI strategy in place.
Stat 4 — Municipal capacity gap: small towns cannot sustain digital infrastructure alone.
Source: Vermont Department of Housing & Community Development — 2026 Vermont Planning & Community Investment Survey (116 municipal officials surveyed; published May 8, 2026).
Direct quote from municipal officials: “Many municipalities cannot, on their own, sustain the financing, technical staffing, or regulatory rigor planning and operations of systems demand.” Survey themes include “digital modernization of administrative systems,” “clearer, less clinical communications for standard Vermonters,” and “strain on municipal staff and resources as many requirements fall on municipalities and are hard to comply with having a volunteer staff.”
Why this matters: The capacity gap is structural, not occasional. Small municipalities are systematically under-resourced relative to the digital obligations placed on them.
Stat 5 — Industry validation: 64% of government call centers consolidating fragmented services.
Source: Granicus 2026 State of Digital Government Benchmark Report — 30+ billion interactions analyzed, 1,300+ survey responses, 550+ government communications professionals surveyed across North America.
Key data points: 64% of government call centers now operate as consolidated service hubs (validating prior fragmentation). 78% of local governments plan to expand digital capabilities in the coming year. 50–70% of call center calls are general information inquiries — precisely the type of repetitive interaction a unified platform replaces. 55.7% of government organizations use AI; only 42.9% have formal AI policies in place.
Industry-press validation: “2026 will mark a turning point as agencies consolidate scattered data tools into unified data collaboration platforms… The outdated mindset of ‘collect and store’ will be replaced by ‘integrate and activate.’” — Seth Eaton, VP Technology & Innovation, Amentum, in Federal News Network, January 14, 2026.
View Granicus 2026 State of Digital Government →
View Federal News Network commentary →
HeroByApp™ is a nonpartisan civic recognition program. Honorees are selected based on service and verifiable community impact — not political affiliation, office, or partisan activity.
The typical threshold is 5+ years of documented service; for the Founding 50 (one honoree connected to each U.S. state capital), the preference is 10+ years of sustained service. Selected honorees are contacted directly, identity-verified, and must provide consent before any public recognition.
Recognition implies no government endorsement or authority and confers no governmental, procurement, or platform-governance rights. Any U.S.-based individual may nominate a community hero in any U.S. state.
CityByApp™ does not decide political truth or control the civic narrative. It verifies the publisher, not the ideology — labels every source type, and keeps official stakeholder updates clearly separate from verified media coverage. Agencies, nonprofits, licensed businesses, and approved civic stakeholders publish under their own verified identity. Media organizations publish as media. Residents can see the source, understand the context, and follow the receipts.
| Verified Stakeholder Updates | Verified Media / News Coverage |
|---|---|
| Published directly by verified agencies, nonprofits, licensed businesses, civic organizations, sponsors, and approved stakeholders — under their own verified identity, and accountable for what they publish. Official updates, local announcements, press releases, events, public notices, products/services, deals, photos/videos, and organization updates. | Content from verified media / news organizations. May include reporting or editorial perspective that can lean one way or another, so it is clearly labeled as media/news and visually separated from official stakeholder updates. |
Residents never have to guess whether they are reading an official stakeholder update, a verified organization’s own message, a sponsor message, or verified media coverage — the source type is labeled.
Civic content carries a clear source label so the reader always knows the type of source:
Helping residents understand how to vote — not who to vote for.
VoteByApp™ is a planned, nonpartisan civic utility — a future roadmap module within the CivicByApp™ OS / ByApp.ai ecosystem. It consolidates official election logistics into one accessible, plain-language surface, sourced exclusively from official election authorities: Secretaries of State, county clerks, boards of elections, and other authorized election offices. Every election data point is displayed with Source · Jurisdiction · Last Updated.
It is not online voting, not ballot tabulation, and not election administration. It carries no candidates, endorsements, rankings, ballot-initiative advocacy, or political advertising adjacent to official election information. Nonpartisan by design.
| VoteByApp™ IS | VoteByApp™ IS NOT |
|---|---|
| Verified election logistics from official sources · official source links · deadlines · polling-place & hours info · registration guidance · accessibility-friendly reminders (opt-in) | Online voting · a candidate guide · a political advertising surface · a persuasion tool · a tabulation or election-administration system |
High-resolution photography, brand assets, and the full fact sheet. Email herobyapp@citybyapp.com for additional materials, broadcast-quality video, or interview scheduling.
For interviews, photography, broadcast-quality footage, or pre-ceremony briefings, reach out directly. We respond within one business day.