THE PEOPLE'S MONEY 2026/27

The NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) is excited to launch the fitfth cycle of The People’s Money 2026/27 participatory budgeting process!​
On September 14 2022, the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) launched The People’s Money – NYC’s first-ever citywide participatory budgeting process! All New Yorkers age 11 and up, regardless of immigration status, can decide how to spend millions of the city’s expense budget on programs, services, and events in their borough and/or neighborhood to address community needs.

THE PEOPLE'S MONEY: CYCLE 4 — PHASE BREAKDOWN

Phase 1: Idea Generation | FALL 2026
  • Residents submit ideas online or in-person for projects to address community needs.​
Phase 2: Borough Assemblies | WINTER 2027
  • Randomly selected New Yorkers evaluate ideas against equity criteria and select projects to appear on the final ballot.​
Phase 3: Voting | SPRING 2027
  • Residents vote online or in-person at a vote site in their neighborhoods.
Phase 4: Project Implementation | OCTOBER 2027 - OCTOBER 2028
  • Winning projects are announced, funded, implemented, and monitored.​​

​PHASE 1: IDEA GENERATION

Through a robust and inclusive engagement process, over 100 groups, entities, and community based organizations submitted proposals to host Idea Generation Workshops across the five boroughs, where residents will be invited to brainstorm ideas for creative projects. Projects will then be developed into ballot proposals, which will be voted on by residents in each borough. Winning projects will then be implemented starting in July of 2027.
Until November 18 residents can submit ideas for projects to address community needs.  All New Yorkers are invited to attend Workshops in their borough! Residents will also be able to submit ideas and find further Idea Generation Workshops via the CEC’s online platform: participate.nyc.gov​

JOIN AN IDEA GENERATION SESSION!

FRANC is conducting 5 Idea Generation sessions in the Rockaways to give residents an opportunity to brainstorm creative project ideas that address our community needs. 

IDEA GENERATION SESSION #1
Date: Saturday, October 17
Location: FRANC Wellness Center, 1332 Central Ave.,
Far Rockaway, NY 11691
Time: 12 PM to 2 PM

In collaboration with Friends of the Beach 59th Street Playground Association

What is Participatory Budgeting?

​Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. PB originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989 as an anti-poverty intervention. Since then, it’s been implemented in over 10,000 municipalities across the world to help residents directly decide budgets for states, counties, cities, housing authorities, schools, and other institutions.

​The History of PB in NYC and the CEC

PB was brought to NYC in 2010 by four City Council Members –Brad Lander, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Jumaane Williams, and Eric Ulrich. Since then, many more Council Members invite their residents to decide how to spend public funds in a process called PBNYC. However, not all council members choose to offer PB in their district. In November 2018, close to one million New Yorkers voted in a citywide referendum proposed by the 2018 Charter Revision Commission for a ballot initiative creating the CEC and mandating it to implement a citywide participatory budgeting program. This mandate can be found in
Chapter 76 of the NYC Charter.
Stay Connected with The People’s Money
  • Visit participate.nyc.gov to learn more about The People’s Money
  • Sign up for the NYC CEC newsletter at nyc.gov/cec
  • Follow @nyccec on X, Facebook, and Instagram