Through Participatory Budgeting, community members, instead of elected officials alone decide how public funds should be spent from start to finish. The second year of Participatory Budgeting in New York City expanded upon the success of Year 1 by bringing together almost 14,000 New Yorkers from eight City Council districts, 6,000 more participants than Year 1. Data collected from over 8,200 surveys, 30 observations, and 63 in-depth interviews show that many of these participants were from diverse backgrounds, and that Participatory Budgeting engaged community members who would not otherwise participate in politics or have contact with government.
The eight participating Council Members allocated almost $10 million in capital discretionary funds to the 46 winning projects selected by community members in their districts. The research findings for each district are available here:
- Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-8)
- Dan Halloran (R-19)
- Mark Weprin (D-23)
- Erich Ulrich (R-32)
- Stephen Levin (D-33)
- Brad Lander (D-39)
- David Greenfield (D-44)
- Jumaane D. Williams (D-45)
Through Participatory Budgeting in New York City (PBNYC), New Yorkers are directly deciding how to spend millions of dollars of public funds every year. In the third annual cycle of PBNYC, residents across 10 NYC Council Districts came together to discuss ideas for improving their communities, and nearly 17,000 people voted on how to spend over $14 million. Here are the results:
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Here the Chief of Staff to Councilman Andrew Cohen Mr. Daniel Johnson explains Participatory Budgeting at a meeting that was held in the office of Community Board 7 in the Norwood/Bedford Park area of the district. More such meetings are to be held to explain this new process that allows district residents to vote on projects they would like to see in their council district. Councilman Cohen has put one million dollars of his allotted city funding into this process, and is the first full Bronx council district to do this. Speaker Mark-Viverito who district is partly in the Bronx has done this process since its inception in the council in 2011.
This summer, the Council Member and his staff will be hosting information sessions throughout the district to let residents know more about participatory budgeting and how they can get involved. The confirmed information sessions are listed below and they will all begin at 7:00pm. Additional information sessions will be confirmed shortly.
Thursday, July 10th at Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, 3225 Reservoir Oval East
Tuesday, July 15th at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, 4275 Katonah Avenue
Thursday, July 17th at the Riverdale Y-MWHA, 5625 Arlington Avenue
