Reflecting on a year of impact and citywide engagement
With 2025 coming to a close, we're reflecting on a year of collaboration, community leadership, and citywide engagement — and looking back on the progress we've made over the past year. Our Annual Report for the 2025 fiscal year, spanning June 2024 to June 2025, captures the reach of our programs, the strength of our community-based partnerships, and the continued growth of civic engagement citywide. Here are some standout statistics to show all we've accomplished together:
These numbers reflect more than outputs — they represent voices heard, ideas elevated, and communities strengthened. As we head into the new year, we're grateful for the New Yorkers, partners, and community leaders who have made this work possible. Your commitment to civic engagement continues to shape a more connected, collaborative, and inclusive city. We look forward to what we'll continue to accomplish together in 2026!
Meet our 2025-2026 TRIE Neighborhood Administrators!
We're thrilled to introduce the 2025-2026 cohort of TRIE Neighborhood Administrators!
The Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) Neighborhood Initiative is our coalition and capacity-building program, created in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Equity and the Young Men's Initiative. Through TRIE, we fund and support community-based organizations to serve as TNAs — leaders who build local coalitions and expand access to civic engagement through programs like The People's Money in historically underrepresented and under-resourced communities throughout the city.
Throughout the year, TNAs work closely with their coalitions to connect residents with resources, build trust, and ensure New Yorkers have meaningful opportunities to shape the future of their neighborhoods.
See the lists of TNAs in each borough below!
Participate.nyc.gov has a new look!We're excited to highlight the new homepage redesign for Participate — our interactive website for The People's Money — led by our UI/UX Design Consultant Alexis Loveraz in collaboration with the CEC's Digital Equity Team (DET).
Over the past two months, Alexis completed a User Experience (UX) audit of the site, a process where we analyze how people interact with a digital product. Through that review, we found several issues that were impacting users' experience on Participate: the yearly cycle pages were difficult to locate, the navigation didn't clearly guide users, and the visual identity didn't reflect the CEC brand or the story behind The People's Money.
Our redesign on Participate consists of three major improvements:
- A clearer narrative flow that explains what The People's Money is, how it works, and how New Yorkers can get involved.
- Stronger visual storytelling, including updated icons and layout patterns that align more closely with CEC's identity.
- A new evergreen navigation system that connects all The People's Money content (past cycles, process explanations, and get involved opportunities) in one consistent framework.
Although the UX audit is complete, this will not be the last time we revisit the homepage. Digital design is iterative, and this version sets the foundation for ongoing updates as we continue gathering feedback from partners, staff, and residents engaging with The People's Money.
Building community through collaboration
On December 5, in partnership with The New School, we hosted a community-building workshop and networking session for participants in our Capacity Building Workshop Series. The gathering brought together representatives from over 20 community-based organizations, offering a space to connect with one another and exchange insights across sectors.
Throughout the session, partners shared best (and worst) practices in areas like health, workforce development, social services and accessibility, and arts and culture. The conversations were lively, honest, and rooted in a shared commitment to strengthening the work we all do for New Yorkers.
CEC's 2025 holiday gathering
This month, our CEC team came together for our annual holiday gathering — a chance to celebrate another year of collaboration, community partnership, and citywide engagement. We were thrilled to host this year's gathering at the Brooklyn studio of our Artist-in-Residence, Yazmany Arboleda, whose creative partnership continues to bring imagination, color, and joy to our work.
The event featured hands-on arts and crafts, including screen printing and collage-making, and lots of games. With music, food, and plenty of opportunities to connect with one another, the gathering offered our staff a moment to recharge, reflect, and celebrate the collective efforts that made 2025 such a meaningful year for civic engagement.
Civic Leader Spotlight: Sapreet K. Saluja of New York Cares
With the holiday season upon us, we're proud to highlight the work of Sapreet K. Saluja, Executive Director of New York Cares — the largest volunteer organization in New York City that strengthens community care across the five boroughs. Under Saluja's leadership, New York Cares continues to mobilize thousands of New Yorkers in acts of service that bring warmth, dignity, and joy to neighbors during the winter months.
"Just this year, over 66,000 New Yorkers have volunteered through New York Cares, and they show up in all sorts of ways," said Saluja in a recent interview on "The Rush Hour" on Spectrum News NY1. "They come to our website, they sign up for a volunteer project, they sort and pack meals at food pantries and distribute them[...] People are tutoring students in schools, they're taking care of our public spaces. There are just so many different ways that people can step up."
Saluja brings decades of experience to this mission-driven leadership. Before joining New York Cares, she held senior management roles at Girl Scouts of the USA, The Sikh Coalition, and Teach for America. She earned her B.S. in marketing and international business from NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and has served on the Board of Directors at the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.
Whether it's providing a warm coat or fulfilling a child's holiday wish, New York Cares continues to embody the spirit of giving that defines this time of year. We're honored to spotlight Sapreet K. Saluja's leadership and the countless volunteers who make this work possible |
