The problem is no longer “can I find it,” but “who published this, and can I trust the source”
Local information — from safety alerts and school notices to permits, jobs, and emergencies — is scattered across government pages, social feeds, outdated directories, and anonymous groups. Artificial intelligence has made that fragmentation more dangerous, because content with no accountable author can now be generated instantly and made to look authoritative. NewsGuard has catalogued more than 3,700 AI-generated sites operating with no one accountable for a word of them. The public has noticed: a 2023 AP-NORC survey found that 65 percent of Americans want AI-generated content clearly labeled.
How it works: verified publishing, opened one honored Hero at a time
CityByApp™ is a verified civic publishing platform. Only verified local stakeholders — including governments, agencies, nonprofits, schools, licensed businesses, and approved media — can publish. There are no anonymous accounts, no bots, and no spam. The platform itself generates nothing; every post is published by a verified organization that owns it and stands behind it. The verification technology is patent-pending.
HeroByApp™ is how an entire state meets that platform at once. When a community Hero is honored, that recognition opens statewide eligibility — a symbolic and operational Virtual Key. Trusted organizations then claim their listing, confirm their identity, and begin publishing. One honor opens one state. Fifty Heroes across fifty states build the Founding 50, a civic-trust flywheel in which every activated state makes the next one easier. Indiana is first.
Her honor became her community’s, and residents can help complete the record
Mary Aurtrey’s lifetime of service connects her to organizations across Indiana and beyond, and her recognition did not end with her. The organizations she has served were recognized alongside her at the ceremony, each receiving its own Certificate of Honor, and every local government, nonprofit, and licensed business in her state can now claim and verify its own listing on CityByApp™ and publish at no cost.
That opens an invitation to every Hoosier. Because Mary’s honor is the doorway her whole state walks through, residents, businesses, nonprofits, and agencies across Indiana are invited to help complete the digital record of the community her honor opened — by claiming and verifying their own profile and publishing the information their neighbors rely on. Participation is free and voluntary, and implies no endorsement of any office or official. One honor, and an entire community gained a trusted place to be seen, heard, and found.
The inaugural honoree
The Founding 50 Charter Honoree is Sergeant Major Mary L. Aurtrey, U.S. Army (Retired), honored for a lifetime of service. She served 22 years in the U.S. Army, from 1969 to 1991, rising to Sergeant Major, with duty across the United States, Korea, Germany, and Belgium, including service in the speechwriters’ office at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. She then gave 25 years as a federal civil servant, retiring in 2016 from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Indianapolis. Her decorations include seven Army Good Conduct Medals and two Meritorious Service Medals, and her later honors include the Indiana Governor’s Torchbearer Award (2013), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs #VeteranOfTheDay (2016), the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award (2021), and induction into the Indiana Military Veterans Hall of Fame (2022). In Indianapolis she has led Women In Networking, served as Chaplain of American Legion Women’s Post 438, served nearly a decade as President of Woman’s Life Chapter 703, advocated for homeless women veterans through the Sister Soldier Network, and founded the Claudia Gilliard Scholarship Fund. The recognition is nonpartisan and intended solely to honor service and community impact.
She was presented with the HeroByApp™ Certificate of Honor, the Community Hero Medal, and the Letter of Honor, along with the Honoree lapel pin. Her full verified record and digital footprint — a source-traceable account of her service and the organizations she has touched — are published at herobyapp.com/mary-l-aurtrey and on CityByApp™.
“I served twenty-two years in the Army and twenty-five more in the Civil Service, and I never left Indianapolis — I retired from the military and from the Civil Service right here at home. To be honored this way means the world to me. But what moves me most is that this honor does not stop with me. It opens a trusted place my whole community can rely on. Service does not end when the uniform comes off, and now the work so many of us do can keep reaching the people who need it.”
— Sergeant Major Mary L. Aurtrey, U.S. Army (Retired)
The city named a day in her honor
In recognition of her lifetime of service, the City of Indianapolis proclaimed Wednesday, July 29, 2026, as “Mary L. Aurtrey Day.” The proclamation was presented at the ceremony by Ron Rice, Director of Veteran Services for the City of Indianapolis, on behalf of Mayor Joseph H. Hogsett. It is a civic recognition of Ms. Aurtrey’s service to her community and is nonpartisan.
“Mary Aurtrey has given this city a lifetime of service, in uniform and out of it, and Indianapolis is proud to call her one of our own. Naming this day in her honor is a small way of saying what her whole community already knows — that service like hers leaves a mark that lasts.”
— Ron Rice, Director of Veteran Services, City of Indianapolis
A congressional award for a lifetime of service
Sergeant Major Aurtrey also received the Sheila Corcoran Hoosier Women Hero Award, presented on behalf of Congressman André Carson (IN-07) by his representative, Heather Harvey. The award, established by Congressman Carson, honors extraordinary female military veterans who continue to serve their Indiana communities. The recognition is a separate honor conferred by the Congressman’s office and is nonpartisan; it does not imply any endorsement of the HeroByApp™ program or the CityByApp™ platform by any office or official.
Made possible by sponsors, never by controlling content
Verified civic access is offered free to every organization and resident, funded by sponsors who invest in their community’s trust. No public funds are required. Indiana’s inaugural activation was made possible by founding sponsor Blue Sky Financial Partners, State Sponsor of the launch, alongside Centers for Digestive Health.
The Certificate of Honor stays unbranded — a pure civic recognition of the Hero. Sponsors fund verified access and receive approved recognition on other program surfaces. They never control content, verification, certificates, honoree selection, or editorial outcomes. Participation does not imply endorsement.
“Local trust is the most valuable thing a community has, and it is under real pressure right now. Sponsoring HeroByApp™ in Indiana lets us fund something that stays free for every town, nonprofit, and business in our state, with no strings attached to the content. That is exactly the kind of investment in our community we believe in.”
— Todd Wooten, Blue Sky Financial Partners
What it means for Indiana, and beyond
With today’s ceremony, Indiana becomes the first activated state. Every eligible government, agency, nonprofit, licensed business, school, and civic organization can now claim a verified profile and publish directly to the residents they serve — free, nonpartisan, with no ads and no engagement algorithm deciding what gets seen. Indiana is home to 92 counties, roughly 719,000 registered businesses, and nearly seven million residents.
Nationally, Indiana is the first of the Founding 50, a repeatable, state-by-state model that gives every American community one trusted place for local information. Globally, the honor extends through Indianapolis’s eleven international sister-city relationships across multiple continents, reflecting the program’s founding principle: Local Honor. Global Impact.
Traction
CityByApp™ is operating today, not a concept. It is available across all 50 U.S. states, following beta deployments in 25 markets, with more than 277,000 verified member profiles across 160-plus countries and territories and more than one million dollars in platform revenue to date. The company holds two multi-year contracts, with the City of Lamar, Colorado, and the Old Town Temecula Association in Southern California. In the Northwest Indiana and Chicago Southland region, Lansing, Illinois, St. John, Indiana, and Schererville, Indiana signed up on CityByApp™ during beta, alongside cities in Missouri, Colorado, and California. That work led directly to the scalable verified civic publishing platform launching now. CityByApp™ holds no municipal contracts in Indiana. Marquee figures are management-reported; independent verification is in progress. The founder’s civic work has been recognized across four consecutive U.S. presidential administrations; that recognition honors his civic service and does not imply government endorsement of the platform.
What comes next
Indiana is the first of the Founding 50. Additional states will activate as each one’s Hero is honored, one state at a time. Nominations for community Heroes are open now.
Take part
- See Mary’s verified record. Her digital footprint is published at herobyapp.com/mary-l-aurtrey and on CityByApp™.
- Find your community. Residents can browse verified local information, free, at www.citybyapp.com.
- Claim and verify your listing. Verified governments, nonprofits, and licensed businesses can claim their profile and publish trusted local information.
- Nominate a Hero. Open your state. Anyone can nominate a veteran, teacher, first responder, nonprofit leader, or volunteer in about two minutes.
- Become a sponsor. Sponsorship keeps verified access free for the community. Contact CityByApp™ to learn about becoming a sponsor.
About CityByApp™
CityByApp™ is a verified civic publishing platform where only verified local stakeholders can publish and every update is source-traceable, so citizens always know the source before they trust the update. The platform has no AI features and no bots, and generates no content of its own. It is available across all 50 U.S. states, following beta deployments in 25 markets, with more than 277,000 verified member profiles across 160-plus countries and territories. The verification technology is patent-pending. CityByApp™ Inc. is a Delaware corporation. Get Connected. Be Rewarded.
About HeroByApp™
HeroByApp™ is the public activation program of CityByApp™ Inc. It honors one community Hero in each of the fifty states, the Founding 50, and through that recognition opens statewide access to the platform at no cost. Local Honor. Global Impact.
About ByApp.ai
ByApp.ai is the American-built intelligent infrastructure planned to power the platform’s next generation, including AI-assisted publishing tools with clearly labeled AI-generated content. It is in active development and arriving 2027. The Intelligent Infrastructure Platform.
Voluntary · Nonpartisan · Sponsor-funded · No public funds required · No endorsement implied. © 2026 CityByApp™ Inc. All rights reserved. This release is not legal, securities, tax, or investment advice.
