SG x Yvette Buckner: Tech Entering Communities and (truly) benefiting them.
In this month’s After Story, SG leaders Lesley Gold and Baxter Townsend sat down with Yvette Buckner. Buckner is the President and co-founder of Buckner Group and one of New York’s top political advisors and government relations specialists.
The conversation revealed a lot: how governors communicate across different states, why engaging local communities is the key to successfully entering new markets, and how a long history of companies missing the mark means that building trust is paramount.
Q: Can you give us some background on yourself and how you came to this work?
My lens is always going to be about racial and social justice. Technology cuts both ways, and even though I'm moderate politically – for New York City standards, I live in a community where the digital divide is still real, right here in Brooklyn, not somewhere far away.
My background sits at the center of policy and politics. I've worked for elected officials and helped many win their campaigns, but my moral compass has always been about leaving New York a better place for my daughter and her future children. Technology companies tend to find me because they're asking how to operate in New York while staying sensitive to community needs. I sit at that intersection, not as a technology expert, but as an expert in community and political relationships, making sure marginalized communities are also reaping the benefits.
Q: What's the first thing you tell tech companies coming into New York?
I tell them to think about three things: innovation for whom, investment for whom, and consequences for whom. New York State has changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years. There are more women and people of color in leadership positions than ever, and they bring lived experience to the table. AI itself has changed too. It used to feel like a conversation for "techies." Now that affordability has entered the national lens, the game has completely changed.
Q: We just saw NY State pass a data center moratorium – can you walk us through both sides of the data center debate, in plain terms?
Supporters say data centers mean economic development, jobs, money flowing into the community. Skeptics ask: at whose expense? Are those jobs long-term, or does a company use local resources and leave with nothing to show for it? New York's energy supply isn't as robust as it is elsewhere, so people ask why one segment should profit while another pays the cost. It's become so ubiquitous that my 14-year-old daughter told me, "Mom, you can't use AI, it takes up too much water."
Q: What does it take to change that sentiment? What's the actual action plan?
Accountability. I bring my clients to community board meetings, churches, dinners, with community leaders standing alongside them. That builds real accountability: now the community knows your name, your number, where you work. It's not showing up once a year to hand out turkeys. It's a sustained, year-round investment. It's the difference between a warm introduction and a cold call. You can't just walk into a community; you need to hire people who look like and speak the language of that community, making introductions people already trust.
That's why companies come to me: I cut my teeth as a community organizer, advocating for communities of color for years before I worked in government or lobbying. I also turn away clients when I know what they're proposing won't actually help the community in ten years. I pressure-test their messaging. If a company tells me they want to "promise the world," I tell them that's the wrong message. Give me three concrete things instead.
Q: Where does distrust from communities of color come from, and can it be rebuilt?
It can always be rebuilt, but the digital divide is still real. People assume that because someone has a phone, they have full internet access, when a huge share of people run out of data by two-thirds of the way through the month. There's a natural distrust because so many tech companies have come into communities in the past to run experiments, promised technology that didn't work, or only rolled it out in certain communities, leaving people with a bad taste in their mouth. Data centers fall into that same pattern: big, loud, gated buildings that don't signal they're part of the community. People don't know if that facility is going to give anything back, because it's just a closed box to them.
Q: What would you tell emerging, high-growth AI companies about shaping this narrative?
Go to the local community board and actually talk. Connect with local community leaders. And don't just pitch the major national papers, invest in the local outlets people actually read, in the languages they speak. Make sure that coverage isn't editorializing "this is coming, this is scary." Invest in media that lets you say directly: we're open, here's what we provide, and this is for you.
Q: Anything else tech companies should be doing?
Talk to elected officials directly, they're a lifeline to the community too. Companies often want to come in without being flexible, and flexibility is the key. The politics of this moment have changed, and you have to adjust your policies and how you engage accordingly. Technology is built to evolve, but you have to change the policies, not just the coding.
Q: New York is often an early adopter state whose legislation spreads elsewhere. How should a smaller tech company prioritize which states to engage next?
Look at who the governor is close to. Governors talk to a small circle of peers, and when something happens in New York, they take notice: here's the blueprint, here are the challenges, here's what I can do in my state. Identify who's in that circle now, because those are the states where New York's playbook is likely to travel next. As I always say: the way New York
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