Announcing The People's Money Year 3 Winning Projects!
The people have spoken, and we're thrilled to announce the results of The People's Money vote! Thousands of New Yorkers cast their participatory budgeting ballots to decide how public funds should be spent in their communities, and thanks to your participation, 20 projects across the five boroughs will receive $4 million to bring your ideas to life. These community-led projects reflect what New Yorkers said they need most — from youth programs and job training to food access, creative arts, and more.
Without further ado, the winning projects of citywide participatory budgeting are:
Manhattan
- Youth Entrepreneurship Program: This youth program will teach students how to start a business. Students will learn financial literacy and management skills. They will create a handbook documenting the process of bringing their idea to life.
- Learn to Grow and Cook Your Own Food: A series of workshops teaching a way towards better health. They will consist of cooking and nutrition classes along with urban farming demonstrations and classes. The workshops will be for public housing residents.
- Everyone Should be Able to Swim: A swimming class focused on youth in public housing. It will include lifeguard training to help get employment in the water safety field.
- Vocational Training for Middle and High School Students: Vocational classes for students 11 yrs - 18 yrs old. They will learn about high demand jobs such as graphic design, video production, fashion design, and cosmetology. Professional career development will be provided.
Brooklyn
- Youth Job Training and Employment Opportunities: Connect youth with job training through outreach and awareness of training opportunities. Offer presentation & counseling on employment, career, trade opportunities at various locations with unengaged youth.
- Youth Employment Training and Partnerships: Classes for youth focused on green jobs and technology that offer certifications with paid stipends. Engage local and national business support to give a broad range of experience.
- Job Training and Support for Employment for Single Parents: Provide job training and pathways towards employment for single parents, fostering independence and economic growth
- Community Kitchen with Classes: Create a food center that offers cooking classes for the community. People come to the center to get food from a pantry and then learn to make a meal from what they selected. Field trips to farms could be included.
- Young Parent Support and Classes: A parenting hub that offers childcare for participants in order for them to receive coaching and support as well as helping them navigate crucial resources, benefits, and connections.
Bronx
- Youth-Led Performing Arts Program: A program for beginners that supports youth-led (age 14+) groups in developing creative projects in the performing arts, including music, dance, and drama, that build their self-esteem and well-being.
- Healthy Food & Literary Nights for Families & Individuals: A program that will host healthy food and literacy nights for families. Activities will be focused on Bronx history and culture. Access to resources for food assistance programs would also be available.
- STEAM Enrichment for Bronx Youth and Teens: A youth program that offers free therapy and an assortment of STEAM activities - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math - for elementary, middle, and high school-aged youth to build their confidence.
- Support People with Housing Advocacy Groups: A program to provide individual tenants' rights workshops and legal aid to empower Bronx residents to create their own housing advocacy groups.
- Support for Parents and Guardians of Amazing Special Kids: A program that connects the parents of children with disabilities with all the necessary support services needed for their children from childhood all the way to adulthood.
Queens
- Pathway to Professions for Youth: This after-school program will help students gain future-oriented knowledge & experience in their chosen interests of study. Field trips and mentorship opportunities would help give practical experience.
- Saving for Your Future: This program will hold weekly free financial literacy workshops for youth to teach essential financial strategies. It will provide tools to make sound financial decisions and build a strong financial foundation.
- Housing Workshops for Older Adults: There is an urgent need for older adult housing and helping them find out how to apply. Workshops and counselors will work with individuals to navigate the available older adult housing options.
- Pathways to a Successful College Career: A mentorship program offering bilingual workshops to empower students and parents. Mentors will lead workshops on how to apply for college, fill out financial aid forms, and provide educational support.
- Empowered with Opportunity: A program to equip unemployed people with the skills and knowledge on how to apply for jobs, conduct oneself in an interview, find appropriate attire, and how to utilize professional social networking platforms.
Staten Island
- Staten Island Youth Internship Program: Provide SI teens with work experience at hospitals, labs, and health-related businesses. Partners will provide internships per cohort and be located near MTA accessible locations. The teens will be paid stipends.
We are so grateful to everyone who participated, shared ideas, and helped shape the future of their community. Stay tuned as implementation begins and these ideas become reality!
Two new opportunities to partner with the CEC!
We are excited to announce two new Requests for Information (RFIs) for community-based organizations and groups looking to help shape civic life in their neighborhoods.
1. The People's Money: Idea Generation Partners
The CEC is seeking a diverse set of community-based partners to support Phase 1 (Idea Generation) of Year 4 of The People's Money, NYC's citywide participatory budgeting process.
This is a paid partnership opportunity for groups that are deeply rooted in their communities and passionate about civic engagement, advocacy, and democracy building.
Partnership period: 3 months for Idea Generation (with the opportunity to extend to the Voting phase)
Funding amount: $9,000-$15,000
What partners will do:
- Host Idea Generation sessions to gather community ideas in Fall 2025
- Educate New Yorkers about the city budget and participatory budgeting
We are looking for organizations with a track record of civic engagement and advocacy with our priority populations that can host sessions in at least 3 of 5 boroughs.
We encourage applications from groups with a focus on serving youth, older adults, public housing residents, justice-impacted individuals, people with disabilities, English language learners, veterans, and the LGBTQ+ community.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: August 18, 2025
🔗 Learn more at on.nyc.gov/rfi
2. TRIE Neighborhood Initiative: Become a TRIE Neighborhood Administrator
We are also accepting applications for the TRIE (Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity) Neighborhood Initiative. Selected organizations will receive up to $60,000 to serve as TRIE Neighborhood Administrators (TNAs) in key communities across NYC.
TNAs will:
- Build and manage coalitions of local stakeholders
- Co-host events and get out the vote for The People's Money
- Partner with winning project organizations
- Develop a civic engagement workshop tailored to TRIE communities
- Attend CEC-led meetings and capacity-building trainings
The CEC is looking to recruit partners for the following neighborhoods in the 2025-2026 program year:
- Lower East Side and Chinatown
- Central Harlem
- Fordham and University Heights
- Bedford Stuyvesant
- Flatbush
- Brownsville
- Coney Island and Brighton Beach
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- Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hollis, St. Albans, Rochdale, and Springfield Gardens
- Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park
- Queens Village
- St. George, Stapleton, Port Richmond, Tompkinsville and Mariner's Harbor
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Ideal applicants are passionate about community organizing, have strong project management capacity, and are creative in their approach to outreach and engagement. The grant covers one fiscal year, with the potential for extension.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: August 18, 2025
🔗 Learn more at on.nyc.gov/rfi
A look at our Ranked Choice Voting Ethnic Media Roundtable
Last month, we hosted an Ethnic Media Roundtable in partnership with the Campaign Finance Board and DemocracyNYC. Journalists from community and ethnic media outlets across the city joined us to discuss civic engagement and our voter language access efforts ahead of the June Primary Election.
Trusted, community-rooted outlets play a vital role in informing New Yorkers in their native languages, and the conversation focused on how we can better collaborate to ensure that voting resources reach every community and every New Yorker.
Participate.nyc.gov has a new look!
We are excited to announce that we've rebuilt participate.nyc.gov from the ground up to make civic engagement more accessible, secure, and user-friendly. The new site — powered by Decidim, a Free/Libre Open Source Software developed to support participatory budgeting — offers a cleaner design, better mobile performance, and new features to support participation now and in the future.
Why the upgrade?
To meet high standards in accessibility, privacy, and security, and to support future features — like more flexible voting tools and easier ways to navigate participatory processes.
What's new:
- Simplified interface and mobile-friendly design
- Faster load times, even with limited connectivity
- Improved accessibility for users with low vision
- New layouts and navigation for easier browsing
Please note that all previous users will have to make new accounts for this site, but we hope the benefits of this transition will make up for it.
Questions or concerns?
Send an email to participate@civicengagement.nyc.org
Participatory budgeting from New York City to Barcelona
Last month, we welcomed our partners from Decidim — a democratic technology collective in Barcelona that powers the participate.nyc.gov website you just read about — to the CEC office for a conversation on community-led budgeting, participatory democracy, and building civic power from the ground up.
We exchanged ideas about the future of digital engagement and how we can support inclusive, transparent, and community-driven decision-making — both in New York City and around the world.
CEC's Volunteer Ambassador Appreciation Ceremony
At the end of June, we celebrated the incredible volunteers who helped power the vote phase of The People's Money across all five boroughs at our Volunteer Ambassador Appreciation Ceremony. From canvassing to community events, their work made this process possible. We honored their hard work and dedication with a night full of food, dancing, and appreciation — thank you volunteers for your commitment to NYC!
The People's Money Partner Spotlight: Elite Learners
Elite Learners is implementing the Home Repair Liaisons for Older Adults People's Money project in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatbush, Canarsie, and East Flatbush.
The program connects youth with older adults to provide basic home repair services while creating workforce training opportunities and fostering intergenerational bonds.
By equipping young people with hands-on skills and offering vital support to older neighbors, Elite Learners are strengthening community ties and creating lasting, positive change for Brooklyn residents!
"Making Civic Trust Less Abstract": A paper co-written by CEC's Oscar Romero
We're proud to share that our Chief Information Officer, Oscar Romero, co-authored a paper with Stefaan Verhulst and Andrew J. Zahuranec titled "Making Civic Trust Less Abstract: A Framework for Measuring Trust Within Cities," published this June.
As the only City agency uniquely mandated by the NYC Charter to improve participation in order to improve civic trust and strengthen democracy,, the Civic Engagement Commission partnered with the GovLab to co-develop a framework that helps us better understand what civic trust really looks like — and how we can strengthen it in measurable, meaningful ways.
The framework draws from a review of existing research, conversations with civic engagement experts and fieldwork with the CEC, including a case study of The People's Money. By grounding trust in real-world behaviors and experiences, the paper provides public institutions like the CEC with a powerful tool to build stronger, more responsive relationships with their communities.
📄 Read the full paper here!
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