$1 Million in Participatory Budgeting Proposals to Be Unveiled at Community Meetings

Residents That Have Been Vetting Project Proposals Will Share Them with the Broader Public, Prior to the March 2012 Public Vote

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Capital Ideas: Community residents have been coming together for months to brainstorm, review and discuss capital investments for their community.

NEW YORK, NY (02/15/2012)(readMedia)-- Residents of East Harlem, Manhattan Valley/Upper West Side and Mott Haven will share proposals for the Participatory Budgeting process at a series of community meetings beginning tonight. Through this process, community residents will directly determine how to invest more than $1 million in capital funding in their neighborhood. Residents have been brainstorming their own investment ideas, reviewing those proposals, and putting them forward to the community in recent months. Tonight is a community expo to review the proposals that will go to a public vote in late March 2012. The funds are being made available through Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito's capital discretionary funds.

More info at www.CVHaction.org/pb and www.pbnyc.org, or you can follow along at www.Facebook.com/CVHaction or on Twitter @CVHaction.

WHO:

The Office of Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, Community Voices Heard, Participatory Budgeting District 8 Committee, Participatory Budgeting Project.

Community Vouices Heard is a membership-led and directed organization made up of 25,000 low-income individuals in New York City, Yonkers, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie. CVH's work includes organizing campaigns with public assistance recipients and public housing residents fighting for their communities through campaigns on job creation, public investment, fair taxation, and more.
WHAT:

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito joined three other Council Members (Lander, Ulrich, and Williams) to set aside a minimum of $1 million in discretionary capital funding in each of those districts to allow community members to come together to directly decide how to invest those funds. After a series of neighborhood assemblies in October, where community residents brainstormed ideas for improving the community, budget delegates began working on those project ideas to determine project cost, feasibility and more.

These project ideas -- put forward by community residents and vetted by community residents -- will be shared with the broader public for the first time this week. Upon feedback at these events, a public, week-long vote will be held at the end of March to determine which projects will be granted funding.
WHEN: Wednesday February 15, 2012 at 10:00AM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
WHERE: Children’s Aid Society
130 E. 101st Street
New York, New York 10029
NOTES:

There will be three Neighborhood Assemblies to review project proposals in Council District 8, with local neighborhood assemblies each of the other three Council Disticts.

DISTRICT 8 NEIGHBORHOOD ASSEMBLIES:

EAST HARLEM: Wednesday, February 15th at 6:30 PM: Children’s Aid Society, 130 E. 101st Street

UPPER WEST SIDE: Thursday, February 16th at 6:30 PM, Youth Hostel, 891 Amsterdam Avenue

MOTT HAVEN: Thursday, February 23rd at 6:30 PM, Betances Senior Center, 401 St. Ann’s Avenue

VISUALS: Colorful poster boards for each project proposal, created by community members.