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The People’s Money is the first citywide Mayoral participatory budgeting (PB) process in New York City.
The People’s Money, run by the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC), is the first citywide Participatory Budgeting (PB) process in New York City. All New Yorkers, regardless of citizenship status, will get to decide how to spend $5 million of Mayoral expense funding to address local community needs.
What happens next in The People’s Money?
During Phase 2 (Dec 22- Feb 23), NYC residents who are selected to represent their communities will help to narrow down the submitted project ideas, support proposal development, and provide recommendations for ballots.
Committees will be chosen from applications submitted during Phase 1 (Sep 22 – Nov 22). Final committee membership will be shared once finalized.
By utilizing NYC residents in the process of reviewing and finalizing the ballots the CEC hopes to achieve the following goals.
- Utilize the lived experience of residents to inform the ballot
- Promote equity through the projects on the ballot
- Increase civic learning and engagement
- Build champions and promote the principal of direct democracy
- Increase civic trust by building relationships with members (ensuring their voices are heard represented)
Timeline: Process Phases
Community conversations, facilitated by our partner CBOs and the CEC, will be held throughout the city to brainstorm ideas for expense projects based on provided criteria and needs. Residents can also propose ideas and projects online. These sessions include familiarization with the City budget, discussion and deliberation about community needs, and problems solving that results in substantive project ideas that can be considered for the final ballot.
Borough Advisory Committees, residents selected to represent their communities, review and evaluate projects that come out of the idea generation phase. Using criteria developed to ensure equity, need, and feasibility the committees will work together to determine which projects meet the criteria and will be further developed into proposals that can be implemented. An open call will be conducted inviting organizations to apply to implement projects as needed. Ballots are created and translated into multiple languages.
Residents vote online, by paper ballot, or by phone (age 11 or older regardless of immigration status).
Winning projects are announced and funded. The CEC meets regularly with all the organizations chosen to implement the winning projects to ensure timely and effective results.