NYC Budget Justice

For immediate release: June 25, 2021

New Policy Report, “Path To A Safe, Healthy And Just Recovery: Cut NYPD’s Budget & Invest In Communities” Provides Budget Demands To Create A Thriving NYC

Today, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), the lead organization of the historic #NYCBudgetJustice campaign, released a policy report, Path to a Safe, Healthy, and Just Recovery: Cut NYPD’s Budget & Invest in Communities, calling for a reduction in the NYPD’s budget, scope, and size, and reallocation of funds to non-police health and safety strategies in New York City’s FY22 budget. Last year, Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Corey Johnson pedaled a $1 billion lie—that the NYPD’s budget would be cut by $1 billion in FY21—but that never happened, and CPR’s report details the extent of these fake cuts, as well as communities’ demands for the FY22 budget.
For immediate release: June 16, 2021

New Yorkers Demand City Council Last Year’s Promises of Cuts to NYPD's Budget & Reallocation Of Funds To Non-Police Health & Safety Solutions

Today, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) members, Brooklyn Movement Center, Citizen Action of NY, DRUM, Girls for Gender Equity, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Justice Committee, Make the Road New York, VOCAL-NY, and NYC Council Member Brad Lander, and others held a rally and press conference as part of the #NYCBudgetJustice campaign. Organizers, activists, and elected officials called on the City Council to:

‘Our Message Is Clear: Defund the Police, Invest in Our Communities’

Activists and community members gathered over the weekend to unveil five new community murals advocating the defunding of the NYPD
06/08/2021
BK Reader

Carl Stubbs put it simply: “I wonder what my life would be like if the money used to arrest me and lock me up was instead used to support my education and help me get a job?”

Stubbs, who has been affected by and fighting mass incarceration “my whole life,” posed the rhetorical question over the weekend to a crowd gathered for the unveiling of five community murals demanding a defunding of the NYPD.

First arrested at age 12, Stubbs said he spent the next 20 years “going in and out of jail, mostly committing crimes because I couldn’t find a job.”

For immediate release: June 5, 2021

Organizers Unveil Murals Redefining Safety and Investing in Communities

Communities United for Police Reform, Color of Change, and Medicine Walls unveiled a series of five 8-foot by 20-foot murals that envision highlighting community demands to defund the NYPD and invest in Black, Latinx, and communities of color that have been historically defunded.

Nation marks one year since George Floyd police murder

05/27/2021
Amsterdam News

Tuesday marked one year since the May 25, 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Several events across the country and the city took place to remember the incident that ignited a nationwide racial reckoning and calls for police reforms.

The infamous cellphone video of former police officer Derek Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd’s neck during an arrest for more than nine minutes was forever cemented as a dark moment in American history. Last month, justice was served as Chauvin was convicted on two counts of murder and is facing up to 40 years in prison.

Thousands Of New Yorkers Mark One-Year Anniversary Of George Floyd's Death

05/26/2021
Gothamist

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across New York City on Tuesday night, marking the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin, who in April was convicted by a jury of murder and manslaughter. Marches, rallies, and vigils around the city paid tribute to Floyd and demanded an end to systemic racism in American law enforcement, including the NYPD.

Opinion: Rightsizing the Police Budget will Enable a Safer, Healthier and More Equitable City

05/05/2021
Gotham Gazette

On April 26, Mayor de Blasio presented his executive budget plan for the city’s next fiscal year, FY22, which begins July 1. In it, he included slight increases to the NYPD’s budget. This comes on the heels of the largest civil rights movement in a generation demanding reinvestments and the heartbreaking murders of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright. If I were in the City Council now, I would fight for a right-sized police budget and deep investments into community care when the adopted budget is agreed upon in June.

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