NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Sunday is the last day for New Yorkers to vote on the allocation of $5 million in discretionary funds.
While individual council members have let their constituents vote on discretionary funds for years, this is the first time New York City is allowing New Yorkers citywide to vote on the allocation of taxpayer money for boroughwide programs and some neighborhood projects.
Voting in the participatory budgeting, dubbed “The People’s Money” by the city, is open to any New York City resident aged 11 or older regardless of immigration status.
Votes can be submitted online by providing your zip code and phone number. The New York City Civic Engagement Commission, the body responsible for dispersing the funds, said that information would not be stored after the voting process.
The CEC considered 4,139 proposals for projects and added the strongest ideas to the ballot.
Your ballot will be determined by the borough and neighborhood you live in. Programs include professional training, youth mental health services, violence interruption and other projects designed to directly benefit New Yorkers.
In addition to borough programs, the 33 neighborhoods hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as determined by the New York City Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity will be able to vote on funds for localized projects.
In the Bronx and Queens, the top three projects will receive funding, in Brooklyn the top four, in Manhattan the top two, and in Staten Island only the number one vote recipient will be enacted.
The neighborhood projects are eligible for $50,000 in funding, while the larger programs will receive between $177,000 and $280,000 depending on which borough it’s being implemented in.
You can see a full list of projects here.
Winners will be announced in July and programs should be completed by June 2024.
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