About the Project
The Bronx People’s Budget Survey is part of the work of the Bronx-wide Coalition to establish a community driven, comprehensive vision for economic development grounded in racial justice and economic democracy in our borough and city.
Bronx-wide Coalition
Members of the Bronx-wide Coalition co-created this tool with the Barnard College + Columbia University Urban Studies program to engage Bronx residents in the Coalition’s borough-wide planning process. We are working to develop a long-term, transformative economic development plan for our borough grounded in our vision and values, and we know Bronx residents are best positioned to identify what we already have, what we need, and the future we want to co-create for ourselves and our families. The Bronx People’s Budget Survey is one way for you to tell us what’s important to you!
Currently, elected officials make decisions about how to allocate the City’s budget in line with what they think is most important. We believe the people of the Bronx and New York City should have a more direct say in how the budget is created, so that it reflects the true needs and priorities of its residents. We believe that the City’s resources should benefit all residents and communities, especially those who have been historically disinvested in and marginalized.
A Plan for the Bronx
The Bronx-wide Coalition is made up of community, labor, and faith community groups that have come together to advance a shared vision for the Bronx grounded in advancing racial justice and economic democracy, which we define as shared ownership and shared decision-making over our assets and local economy. The Bronx already has much of what it needs to transform its local economy and become a thriving, healthy borough.
However, Bronxites currently do not have enough meaningful ownership or control over our futures. To ensure existing residents who fought for the Bronx can continue to call it home for generations to come, our Coalition of organizations and residents launched a Bronx-wide planning process in the spring of 2021. We’ve begun to engage Bronx residents through virtual People’s Assemblies, and we’ll continue to have virtual and in-person events to source our assets, challenges, opportunities, and solutions for transforming our Bronx.
The Bronx-wide Coalition’s Values and Principles
- We address injustice on a systemic level.
- We center racial justice.
- We apply an intergenerational lens.
- We apply a gender justice lens.
- We apply an environmental sustainability lens.
- We use economic democracy as a framework from which to address poverty and inequality.
Barnard-Columbia Urban Studies Program
The Barnard + Columbia Urban Studies program enables students to explore and understand the urban experience in all of its richness and complexity. It recognizes the city as an amalgam of diverse peoples and their social, political, economic, and cultural interactions within a distinctive built environment.
Funding for this project was provided by a Barnard Engages New York: Collaborative Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Change (or beNY for short) award.