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Participatory Budgeting Process Funds New Senior Van

Participatory budgeting winners chart

On May 6th, Riis Settlement’s seniors reaped the fruit of grassroots Democracy at its best.  With 324 votes cast, the “Jacob Riis Senior Van” came in second among 27 community-proposed projects in the Participatory Budgeting process. This means the project will receive a portion of  1.5 million dollars provided by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.

Participatory budgeting or “PB” is a democratic process that allows community members to choose how some of their tax dollars are spent. Public meetings begin nearly a year before voting takes place. During that year, community needs are discussed, proposals are developed to meet those needs and later, residents vote to decide which proposed projects will be funded during the next fiscal year.

This was the first year Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer opted to have Council District 26 participate, which is home to Riis Settlement’s Queensbridge headquarters and Ravenswood campus. According to the NYC Council’s website, across the city, 24 council members allocated over $32 million to be applied to participatory budgeting projects and over 51,000 New Yorker’s voted for their districts’ projects.

Riis Settlement’s seniors were involved every step of the way in Council District 26’s PB process. They promoted the van project, made sure it got on the ballot and voted for it to succeed. Riis Settlement hosted a town hall on July 9th to help gather the community’s PB proposals on a variety of topics related to Education and Schools, Cultural Affairs and Libraries, Housing and Sanitation. Voting was later held at a number of sites throughout the district from April 11-19th including at our Queensbridge site on April 12th and at our Ravenswood Houses site on April 14. The ballots included an option to vote for the “Jacob Riis Senior Van” project described as a request of “$55,000 for a ten-person van.”

Success!

The winning projects were unveiled by Council Member Van Bramer at the LIC Bar on May 6th. The first place winner in Council District 26’s PB process, with 330 votes, was a $500,000 project to support the “Long Island City Bikeway.” The Senior Van project came in second. In third place – funding for upgrades to Queensbridge Houses’ playgrounds – a great success for the community’s youth. The one million dollars in discretionary funds originally allocated by Council Member Van Bramer was enough to fund the top 3 projects, but he was so impressed by the PB process and the community response that he sweetened the pot with an additional $530,000 which allowed 5 more projects to be selected for funding.

Robert Madison, Director of Senior Services at Riis Settlement, was also impressed by the diversity and community engagement that PB inspired. “It was an empowering process for the community and for our seniors. It showed them that by exercising their voice – and the action of their voting – they can see positive changes and positive things happen. … (T)heir voice helped make it happen!”Christopher Hanway, Executive Director of Jacob Riis Settlement House added, “These funds will provide the older adults of Queensbridge with a larger, safer, state-of-the art new senior van that will afford them access to medical care, cultural outings, shopping, green markets, and social service appointments throughout the city.”

Everyone at Riis Settlement is proud of the community and our seniors for making their voices heard. We are also grateful to Council member Jimmy Van Bramer for creating this wonderful opportunity for community engagement. Our seniors are looking forward to the purchase of their new van!

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