Smol Gardens: Accountable AI for Civic Tech

[The Smol Gardens project](https://opencivic.tech/projects/smol-gardens) is an approach to building civic tech grounded in continuous accountability to affected communities, transparency about tradeoffs, and openness to critique to strengthen community agency and democratic self-governance. In the presentation, we'll share the current state of AI-enabled web design, a self-auditing impact framework, and small language models as a good alternative to LLMs. In the hands-on breakout workshop, participants will apply the framework by vibecoding a simple AI application using a small language model and evaluating its impact in three core areas: human and societal impact, future systems, and environmental responsibility. This workshop is for designers, builders and civic technologists who are already using AI tools in their work but feel caught between the pressure to move fast and the need to build responsibly. Smol Gardens is an initiative by the Femmecubator team, introduced at [BetaNYC](https://www.beta.nyc/)'s [UnSchool of Data](https://www.beta.nyc/event/unschool-of-data/) 2026 conference, and pitched as part of the Open Civic Tech initiative.

Speakers

Krizia Fernando

Krizia Fernando is a product design lead at Evernorth. She's worked in education, nonprofits and IoT, building toolkits and systems that help product teams work more inclusively. As co-founder of Femmecubator, a nonprofit supporting BIPOC Women in Tech, Krizia designs open source products and teaches workshops on emerging technologies.

Kris Rubiano

Kris Rubiano is a project manager specializing in civic technology and machine learning. From design to data, they guide the evolution of LLM platforms and community initiatives to ensure technology remains an inclusive resource rather than a barrier.