By Michael V. Cusenza
It’s that time of year.
According to the Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol, now through June 12, New Yorkers age 11 and up, regardless of immigration status, can decide how to spend $3.5 million of City funds on projects in their community.
Last year, in the first People’s Money process, New Yorkers voted to fund 46 expense projects for a total of $5 million. The projects address a wide range of community needs, including mental health, food safety, youth programming, skills building and arts, COPCP officials noted.
Visit https://vote.participate.nyc.gov/the-peoples-money-2024 for more information on how to vote.
So what is The People’s Money?
The People’s Money is New York City’s annual citywide Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiative where community members decide how to spend part of the city’s budget. This democratic process is open to all New Yorkers, ages 11 and up, regardless of immigration status. The second cycle kicked off on October 10th, 2023 with 104 contracted partners supporting outreach and engagement efforts across the five boroughs.
According to the City Civic Engagement Commission, there are two Participatory Budgeting (PB) processes in New York City. PB was originally brought to NYC in 2011 by four City Council Members in a process called PBNYC that invited residents to decide how to spend their public funds. This year, 29 out of 51 City Council members are participating in PBNYC.
In November 2018, close to one million New Yorkers voted in a citywide referendum proposed by the 2018 Charter Revision Commission for a ballot initiative creating the CEC and mandating it to implement a yearly participatory budgeting program utilizing mayoral expense funding, which was branded as “The People’s Money.” This mandate can be found in Chapter 76 of the NYC Charter.
In September of 2022, the mayor and the CEC launched the first citywide cycle of The People’s Money in collaboration with 82 contracted community partners. Thousands of residents submitted ideas, developed ballots, and ultimately voted on projects. The 46 projects with the most votes were funded a total $5 million to address community needs as identified by residents, with an overwhelming focus on youth and mental health services. These programs are now in the process of being implemented by contracted partners.
The CEC pledged to work closely with contracted partners selected to implement winning projects over the course of the year to ensure they are supported, projects are effectively monitored, and are completed successfully. Any opportunities to be involved in the projects will be posted here.
All projects must be completed by June of 2025. The CEC will report back the results of the projects upon completion, including metrics such as the number of residents served, outcomes, highlights, successes and challenges.
The City CEC was created by a citywide referendum in November 2018, after one million New Yorkers voted, resulting in the approval of three ballot initiatives proposed by the 2018 Charter Revision Commission, including a mandate for the CEC to implement citywide Participatory Budgeting.
