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Civic Engagement Commission outlines participatory budgeting, language-assistance and ambassador trainings for Brooklyn
Summary
The NYC Civic Engagement Commission briefed the Brooklyn Borough Board on programs including language assistance at polls, the citywide participatory budgeting process called "The People's Money," targeted outreach to high-need neighborhoods, and a seven-week community engagement ambassador academy.
Representatives of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission presented to the Brooklyn Borough Board on the agency's outreach programs, participatory budgeting cycle and training offerings.
Barbara Williams, the CEC's outreach director, and Benjamin Soliterre, senior adviser, described several initiatives: language assistance for voters with limited English proficiency (including guidance on bringing interpreters to polling sites), the citywide participatory budgeting program known as "The People's Money," a seven-week "community engagement ambassador academy' that provides a $250 gift card to participants who complete a capstone, and targeted programming for older adults, veterans, people in shelters and District 75 schools.
Soliterre said the People's Money collected more than 2,000 ideas citywide from idea-generation sessions and that last year's PB vote total was about 131,000 ballots across the city, with roughly 32,000 coming from Brooklyn. "We funded 20 projects last year, and then, we supervised those going on," he said, describing follow-up implementation, online videos of completed projects, and the borough-level deliberative process that selects ballot items.
CEC staff emphasized outreach to priority neighborhoods known as the TREE neighborhoods (task force for racial inclusion and equity), the use of borough assemblies to evaluate proposals, and the city agency's offer of trainings such as parliamentary procedure, de-escalation, civics 101 and how to use civic technology tools. Williams said the CEC is prepared to attend board meetings and tabling events and offered staff contact information for follow-up.
Board members asked operational questions: the commission described the PB timeline (idea generation, borough assembly deliberations, balloting in May-June, and implementation thereafter), said the second cohort of the ambassador academy begins in March, and confirmed that PB voting is open to residents as young as 11.
The presentation closed with an invitation for the board to request CEC assistance for trainings and events and with a reminder about upcoming borough president-sponsored deadlines and programming.
