What is a Community Board?

Community boards are local representative bodies of NYC government. There are 59 community boards throughout the city, and each one consists of up to 50 unsalaried members (volunteers), half of whom are nominated by their district's City Council members.

Board members are selected and appointed by the Borough Presidents from among active, involved people of each community and must reside, work, or have some other significant interest in the district.

Each community board is led by a Chairperson and Executive Board Officers, who are voted in by the membership. The Board selects a District Manager who is hired to establish a District Office, and manage other hired staff to oversee the day-to-day operations. The District Manager implements procedures to improve the delivery of city services to the district. While the main responsibility of the district office is to receive complaints from community residents, they also maintain other duties, such as processing permits for block parties/street closings, receiving applications for street co-naming requests, State Liquor Authority renewals, and City Cannabis Management Licenses.

Many boards choose to provide additional services and manage special projects that cater to specific community needs, including organizing tenants’ associations, coordinating neighborhood cleanup programs, and more.

As a collective, Community boards have a variety of responsibilities, including but not limited to:

Reviewing and voting on land use and zoning issues: CBs have an important advisory role and must be consulted on the placement of most municipal facilities in the community. Applications for a change in or variance from the zoning resolution must come before the board for review, and the board's position is considered in the final determination.

Assessing the needs of their own districts: CBs assess the needs of their community members and meet with City agencies to make recommendations. They submit an annual Community District Needs Assessment (CDNA) to help inform on the overall budget for New York City.

Addressing other community concerns: Any issue that affects the community, from street repairs to homeless encampments, is a proper concern of community boards.