Vote Now Open, Participatory Budgeting Breaks New Ground in NYC & Will Announce $4 Million in Investments

This weekend will see the final votes cast to determine which projects will get funded, the announcements of those winning projects, and a public briefing

NEW YORK, NY (03/28/2012)(readMedia)-- This weekend, the first cycle of the innovative Participatory Budgeting process will come to an end. On Saturday and Sunday, the final votes will be cast that will determine which proposals -- of hundreds of proposals received -- will be rewarded some portion of the over $4 million in funding made available to residents by four City Council members to prioritize through this Participatory Budgeting process. This weekend will see the final votes cast, a two-day conference with speakers from around the world coming to speak to their experiences with PB, and announcements about which specific projects will be awarded funding based on the public vote.

1) Final vote in Council District 8: SCAN LaGuardia, 307 E. 116th St at 2nd Ave. 10am-4pm

2) International PB Conference: During this two-day conference organized by The Participatory Budgeting Project, Pratt Institute, and the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, CVH leaders and staff, along with over 200 elected officials, community leaders, and activists from across the world, will discuss key topics and trends for this model of grassroots democracy, including PB in Public Housing, PB in Community Organizations, Online Participation, and the PBNYC Briefing (see below). Location info available at: http://pbconference.wordpress.com/locations/. March 30-31.

3) Briefing: Participants at each level of engagement–from Council Members to Budget Delegates–will describe the different stages of the PB process and how people participated. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, 2180 3rd Avenue, room 115AB, at E. 119th St. 2:30-4:00pm

4) Closing Celebration & Vote Announcements: Participants and community members celebrate the final vote of PBNYC and the close of the two-day conference. Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito plans to announce its final voting results live at the closing celebration. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, 2180 3rd Avenue, room 115AB, at E. 119th St. 7:30pm.

WHO:

Low-income leaders of Community Voices Heard that have played a leadership role at the local and city-wide levels to organize this novel process, as well as organizational staff that have assisted in overall coordination.
WHAT:

The public vote, which is the culmination of months of work done by hundreds of New Yorkers across the city, is currently open and will formally close this coming weekend. CVH has worked with a range of partners, including Council Members Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan), Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) and Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), as well as The Participatory Budgeting Project, and many other city-wide and local partners to facilitate a new process for city determines how the city identifies and prioritizes discretionary budgeting decisions. This process, called Participatory Budgeting, allowed residents in four city council districts to directly decide how to spend millions of their own tax dollars.

CVH has served as lead community engagement partner across the city and has been leading the mobilization effort in Council District 8 alongside Council Member Mark-Viverito. Each Council Member reserved at least $1 million in discretionary capital funds for their constituents to allocate. A full list of city-wide and district-level partners is available at http://www.pbnyc.org.

WHEN: Saturday March 31, 2012 at 11:00AM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
WHERE: New York, New York
NOTES:

More info is available at http://www.cvhaction.org/pb, http://www.pbconference.wordpress.com, and http://www.pbnyc.org.