Mission and Purpose

In 2018, over one million New Yorkers voted on a ballot measure to revise the City Charter and establish the Civic Engagement Commission as seen in Chapter 76. The CEC is asked to engage communities who are underrepresented in and underserved by government and its processes through the following initiatives:

1. Run a citywide participatory budgeting program
2. Partner with community-based organizations and civic leaders to encourage New Yorkers to meaningfully participate in civic life
3. Develop a plan addressing the language access needs of limited English proficient New Yorkers and provide language interpreters at poll sites
4. Provide assistance to community boards

Programs

The People’s Money

The People’s Money is New York City’s first-ever annual citywide participatory budgeting (PB) process. Through a four-phase cycle open to all New Yorkers including immigrants and youth, residents come up with, review, and vote on ideas for projects that get brought to life by community-based organizations in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. City Council members introduced PB to New Yorkers in 2011, but The People’s Money is different as it is citywide and utilizes Mayoral expense funding rather than discretionary City Council district-based capital funding. Mayoral expense funding can be used for funding community-based projects, programs, and services, and the citywide process allows all New Yorkers to participate, regardless of the council district they live in.

Each cycle of The People’s Money is divided into four phases and takes two years to complete. The first three phases to determine winning projects run in one year, and the last phase to implement those projects runs in the second year. The first three phases include (1) Idea Generation, (2) Borough Assemblies, and (3) Voting. In the fourth phase, Project Implementation, community-based organizations take a full year to implement the projects that voters select. Below are brief descriptions of each phase:

1. Idea Generation invites residents to in-person workshops to learn about the city budget cycle, identify community needs, and brainstorm project ideas through interactive activities and discussion. Residents are also able to propose ideas and projects directly on the CEC’s online platform: participate.nyc.gov.
2. Borough Assemblies engage 25 randomly selected, demographically representative volunteers in each borough to review eligible ideas, hear from agency experts, review data, further develop ideas, and select the ideas from the previous phase to be placed on each borough’s ballot.
3. Voting is open to all New York City residents aged 11 and older to vote on the projects that they wish to see funded and implemented in their borough. Residents can vote in-person or online.
4. Project Implementation begins with identifying community-based organizations to implement projects through a competitive application process. We work with selected organizations to develop project plans and implement their projects, with monitoring and evaluation of each project.

Voter Language Assistance

The Voter Language Assistance (VLA) Program improves the civic and electoral participation of limited English proficient (LEP) New Yorkers by providing access to interpretation services at select poll sites citywide based on a publicly vetted methodology. The CEC provides services in the thirteen following languages:

1. Albanian
2. Arabic
3. Bengali
4. Chinese (Cantonese & Mandarin)
5. French
6. Greek
7. Haitian Creole
8. Italian
9. Korean
10. Polish
11. Russian
12. Urdu
13. Yiddish

The language assistance provided through this program is supplemental to the language assistance already provided by the NYC Board of Elections.

Since 2019, the CEC has convened a Language Assistance Advisory Committee (LAAC) of members representing the language communities covered by the Voter Language Assistance Program. The LAAC provides recommendations to the CEC on the implementation of the Program, development of outreach strategies tailored to each election, recruitment of interpreters, and vetting of outreach materials targeting LEP voters. The LAAC also assists with vetting of translation materials for other programs within the Commission.

Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) Neighborhood Initiative

The Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) was launched in April of 2020 in response to major health, social, and economic disparities revealed by the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on low-income communities of color. Using socioeconomic and health data from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Taskforce identified 33 Equity Neighborhoods as the priority focus for response and recovery efforts — also referred to as TRIE Neighborhoods.

The TRIE Neighborhood Initiative is a yearlong partnership that invests in community-based organizations to strengthen civic engagement and local decision-making. The program, born out of the pandemic, was created by the Taskforce to address the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on NYC communities of color and support the development of community networks that could connect residents to one another and the city government.

Since its establishment in 2021, the Initiative has been run by the CEC in partnership with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice and the Young Men’s Initiative. During this program, organizations work to empower community residents to help shape city priorities and resources through civic education and participation in The People’s Money.

Community Boards

Since 2020, the CEC has strengthened New York City’s community boards by providing capacity-building workshops for board members and staff across all five boroughs. These efforts ensure board members are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to best serve their communities.

To meet the diverse schedules and needs of board members and staff, CEC offers:

1. Virtual workshops open to all members
2. Multiple session times for each workshop
3. In-person trainings added in response to board requests

Organizational Structure and Membership

See the Civic Engagement Commission’s Staff web page and Commissioners web page.

External Links

The Civic Engagement Commission website: nyc.gov/cec

The People’s Money interactive website: participate.nyc.gov

References

[1] "About," NYC Civic Engagement Commission, accessed April 25, 2019, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/civicengagement/about/about.page

[2] Mary Frost, “De Blasio Appoints Slate of Activists to NYC’s New Civic Engagement Commission,” Brooklyn Eagle, April 23, 2019, https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/04/23/de-blasio-appoints-slate-of-activists-to-nycs-new-civic-engagement-commission/.

[3] New York City Civic Engagement Commission. 2025. “2025 Annual Report.” https://www.nyc.gov/assets/civicengagement/downloads/pdf/CEC-2025-Annual-Report-Final.pdf.

External Links

The Civic Engagement Commission website: nyc.gov/cec

The People’s Money interactive website: participate.nyc.gov

Notes

Lead image: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office, http://bit.ly/2DyeeD1