Participatory Budgeting
CIANA is proud to be part of both citywide and district-wide Participatory Budgeting this year.
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process in which ordinary community members can decide how part of their city budget is spent, both by proposing ideas to be funded in the autumn, then voting on those ideas in the spring. The ideas get the most votes are funded in the next year's budget, which goes into effect on July 1. In New York City, there are two types of Participatory Budgeting.
Citywide Participatory Budgeting is run by the NYC Civic Engagement Commission and is currently in its fourth year. All New York City residents are eligible to vote for projects in the boroughs in which they live. Voting will take place from May to June.
District-wide Participatory Budgeting is run by individual City Council Members in their respective districts. Voting is limited to those who live, work, or attend school in their districts. Voting ended on April 19; stay posted for this year's winners!.
Citywide Participatory Budgeting
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The People's Money - Citywide Participatory Budgeting is an initiative of the New York City Civic Engagement Comission (CEC) where ordinary New Yorkers decide how part of the city budget is spent. First, in the fall, neighborhood residents come together in the autumn to propose projects that they would like to see implemented in their community. Next, in the winter, Borough Action Committees (BACs) convene to narrow down these project ideas into a final list, which is voted on by the community residents in the spring. The projects that receive the most votes are implemented in the following year, and community organizations are then chosen to implement the winning projects through a competitive proposal process.
CIANA has been selected twice to implement projects proposed as part of The People's Money. The first, Digital Safety Workshops for Families, was proposed in 2022 and voted on in 2023. In the spring of 2024, we led eight workshops on digital safety for families in Corona, Queens. Visit our Digital Safety Resources page with materials we presented as part of that project.
In 2025, CIANA was chosen to implement Pathways to a Successful College Career, which is currently underway. This project will help bilingual immigrant high school students and their families prepare for the college application process. You can read more below.
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Our Current Project: Pathways to a Successful College Career
CIANA is grateful to have been selected to lead "Pathways to a Successful College Career" to help bilingual families who live in certain designated zip codes prepare for college. Our project focuses specifically of students living in 11101 (Long Island City), 11368 (Corona), and 11369 (East Elmhurst). We formally launched this project with a community event on March 5.
Our project will consist of group workshops for students and their families that cover how to select colleges, writing personal statements and college essays, financial aid and scholarships, and more, followed by one-on-one and small group mentoring to help each student craft a successful application that will launch them into their college career.
We are looking for volunteers to serve as mentors to program participants. Current college students who have successfully completed the college application process are especially encouraged to apply.
District Participatory Budgeting
Many individual City Council districts have their own participatory budgeting processes, where residents of just those districts can propose ideas in the fall and vote on them in the spring, similar to citywide. These projects may be capital, meaning that they involve major building or construction project, or expense, referring to programs and services.
For the last three years, CIANA has been on the ballot in Council District 22, which includes most of Astoria and is represented by Council Member Tiffany Cabán. Past project proposals include Afterschool Homework Help, Pop-up Health Clinics, and most recently, expanding our Computer Resource Room and Digital Literacy classes.
Anyone ages 11 and up who lives, works, or attends school in District 22 can vote for our project, regardless of immigration status. Click here to check your Council District here, and click here to vote!
Contact Us
To learn more or for assistance voting, call us at (718) 545-4040, email info@cianainc.org, or send us a message on our website.
Follow us on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @cianainc where we'll be posting updates about our Participatory Budgeting project.
Learn about Past PB Projects
Read about CIANA's past involvement with Participatory Budgeting on our blog:
