Justin Auciello
My work centers on a recurring challenge: how people and institutions make sound decisions when information is fragmented, conditions are changing, and the stakes are high.I am a New Jersey licensed professional planner with more than 20 years of planning experience, evaluating complex land use, redevelopment, infrastructure, and regulatory matters and developing defensible professional conclusions.In 2011, I founded Jersey Shore Hurricane News (JSHN), an independent, two-way news and information service built around community contributions, verification, and editorial judgment. JSHN has served residents through Superstorm Sandy, the pandemic, and other disruptions. I received White House Champion of Change recognition for my information work during Sandy in 2013 and reported for WHYY from 2013 to 2020.Following Hurricane Maria, I co-designed and led Información Como Ayuda in Puerto Rico and later served as a Global Information Ecosystem Advisor at Internews, supporting work across five continents.These experiences inform my developing Civic Signal Framework. It examines how residents’ observations, journalism, and institutional knowledge can be brought together to help people understand what is happening and decide what to do.I am documenting how this works in practice, including how recurring questions reveal gaps and how verified answers get back to the people who need them. This also connects to planning, where those patterns can help municipalities improve everyday services and anticipate information needs before a disruption.I am also writing an interdisciplinary narrative nonfiction book tracing the experiences that shaped this work, from childhood and my early years in planning and journalism to founding JSHN and later working in Puerto Rico and beyond. It explores how communities contribute to reporting, how trust develops, and what it takes to sustain that work in everyday life and through crises.