There's one week left to vote in The People's Money - Citywide Participatory Budgeting!
Back in the autumn, CIANA held several idea generation sessions to create ideas for projects that will benefit Queens. The ideas have been narrowed down onto one ballot, and we have until Wednesday, June 12 to vote on them.
This is the second year Participatory Budgeting has been implemented citywide; one winner from the first cycle last year was Digital Safety Workshops for Families in Corona, Queens. Since mid-March, CIANA has held eight workshops in partnership with the NYC Civic Engagement Commission, the city agency that runs Citywide Participatory Budgeting.
Now is the time to decide what new ideas will win next year, and how we can make our communities and all who live in them safer, healthier, and smarter.
Who can vote?
Any New York City resident ages 11 and up can vote, regardless of immigration status.
Many projects on this year’s ballots in all five boroughs are geared toward youth, and some are focused specifically on immigrant communities. It’s therefore important to the CEC that young people and newly-arrived immigrants themselves have a voice in this process.
The voting website and paper ballots are both available in multiple languages to accommodate those who are not fluent in English.
How can I vote?
Voting in Citywide Participatory Budgeting is incredibly easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Those who live in Queens can vote in-person at CIANA or one of our upcoming voting sites. Anyone in the five boroughs can vote online here.
All you need to do is enter your zip code to view the ballot for your borough, as well as the partner code, CIANA. You can vote for as many or as few projects depending on which ones you feel will have the greatest impact on our city and its residents.
Projects that receive the most votes will be implemented in 2025, using money from the coming year’s city budget.
I’ve already voted in Participatory Budgeting. Is this the same thing?
This particular Participatory Budgeting is citywide and is run by the CEC. You may have already voted in district-wide Participatory Budgeting, which is run by individual City Council Members. Voting is limited to those who live, work, or attend school in those particular districts.
We are pleased to announce that CIANA is one of the winners for Participatory Budgeting in District 22. We are grateful to Astoria residents for recognizing our Afterschool Homework Help Program as high-need among immigrant and first-generation youth.
Voting for citywide projects, however, is still ongoing. Stop by our office or one of our pop-up voting sites through June 12 to vote in-person, or vote online. Don't forget to enter our partner code, CIANA before completing the ballot.
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