Arun GuptaCEO of the NobleReach Foundation

The Impact | Episode 1: Micaela Simeone in Seattle

21 Sept 2026 · 2 min

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1:39

In this interview, Micaela Simeone, an Open Reach Scholar at Seattle's Office of Innovation and Performance, explains her work on CivCheck, an AI‑assisted prescreening tool designed to help applicants submit complete and compliant building permits. She describes conducting stakeholder interviews with architects, developers, homeowners, and small‑business owners to gather community feedback on using AI in the permitting process. Simeone emphasizes how this feedback informs more responsive policymaking and improves the tool’s design. She also reflects on her personal growth, noting that moving to Seattle boosted her confidence to take risks, pivot, and try new approaches she hadn’t imagined before.

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I'm Michaela. I work at the Office of Innovation and Performance at the City of Seattle as an Open Reach Scholar. So where CivCheck came in, it's an AI-assisted prescreening tool for permit applications, and this is a tool that helps them to gather together the most kind of complete and compliant application they can before they submit it the first time to the city for review. I was asked to conduct a lot of the stakeholder interviews for this project and ask them what they thought about the prospect of AI being used in the permit application process. So I have been able to interview architects, developers, homeowners, small business owners all over the city, and it's been one of the most meaningful parts of this work, and I am grateful for that because I really think that we were able to gather a lot of meaningful community feedback that will help us solve the problem in better ways than we otherwise might have been able to. It makes me feel that I'm bringing voices into the policymaking and process improvement process that otherwise wouldn't be in the room When I'm talking to community members, it feels like I'm helping to facilitate a more responsive effort within the government. It feels like we're being truly responsive to what people actually need. I'm more confident now in what I offer. Before coming to Seattle, I really never had pictured myself in Washington State. Moving out here has made me feel more confident in my ability to pivot and to take risks and, and try new things that I might not have expected I'd ever try.