NYC Budget Justice

We Demand a #NYCBudgetJustice for Safety & Dignity!

Since the national uprisings of 2020 fueled by the police killing of George Floyd, Communities United for Police Reform has led a historic coalition of local and national organizations united to demand #NYCBudgetJustice – a call for real public safety through investment in infrastructure and community safety solutions and reducing the reliance on police and criminalization.

This year, our NYC Budget Justice Coalition has released a new FY24 platform called New York City Budget for Safety & Dignity that calls for cuts to the NYPD's bloated $11B budget and overreach and demands bold investments in housing, mental health, education, youth services and other public infrastructure that will actually increase the immediate and long-term safety of all New Yorkers!

For the second year in a row, NYC Mayor Eric Adams is continuing to prioritize police-based approaches to a range of public health and safety issues. He has expanded regressive and failed policing tactics and allowed massive NYPD overspending while cutting the budgets of crucial city agencies that New Yorkers rely on for essential safety-net services. This is not the pathway to true public safety and is especially harmful to New Yorkers who are Black, Latinx, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ and other people of color living in communities that are over-policed and underresourced.

CPR’s #BudgetJustice Coalition demands that City Council move money away from policing towards much needed community based safety solutions and infrastructure by: 

1. Save NYC's community safety infrastructure & make government work for New Yorkers.  City Council must protect & invest in resources for us all and real community safety solutions to keep New Yorkers safe, including: 

  • Mental health and harm reduction programs
  • Affordable housing & housing protections for unhoused and low-income NY’ers
  • Education and youth services
  • Violence prevention and intervention programs
  • Public transportation, libraries, and legal services

The City Council must stop the Mayor from cutting life-saving agencies and ensure that city government works for New Yorkers trying to access support & services. 

2. Cut the NYPD's bloated annual $11B spending & redirect funds to community safety needs by:

  • Removing police from social services, including: 
    • End NYPD involvement in mental health issues and dismantle NYPD Mental Health Co-Response Teams 
    • Cut the growing "homeless police" in the Dept of Homeless Services
    • Remove police from youth services & youth engagement and redirect that money to community-led, youth-serving and youth organizing programs. This includes getting police out of New York City schools, dismantling "Youth Coordination Officers" and related youth programs that shouldn't be run by police.
  • Cutting funding and shut down notoriously abusive NYPD units that make us less safe, like: Strategic Response Group (SRG) and VICE.
  • Cut at least $45.8 million from the NYPD budget as a way of holding the NYPD accountable for failing to fire officers that kill, brutalize and/or sexually assault New Yorkers. This number represents a fraction of the cost of only SOME of these officers’ salaries.
  • Cut the budget of the NYPD's outsized 36-person public relations spin machine that regularly spreads disinformation.

3. End special treatment for the NYPD and hold NYPD accountable to budgets and annual spending like other agencies. NYPD’s lack of transparency serves as structural protection from any meaningful fiscal oversight. That allows the NYPD’s budget to continue to balloon and the NYPD’s impunity and power to grow unchecked. 

  • Stop letting the NYPD overspend its budget every year by more than $5 billion without any meaningful consequences.
  • Require NYPD transparency in the budget by requiring that the NYPD report on private monies that it receives from police foundations.

READ OUR FY24 BUDGET JUSTICE PLATFORM AND TAKE ACTION WITH US!
Tell your City Council Member that we need transformative change that includes cutting the NYPD budget and committing significant investments in communities!

Featured News

Community Groups Criticize Mayor Adams’ City Budget and Call on Council Members to vote NO

NYC Budget Justice Campaign Calls on City Council to Reject the Mayor's FY24 Budget that includes Record High $12B+ in NYPD Spending

NEW YORK, NY - Following the budget handshake today, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and NYC Budget Justice campaign criticized Mayor Adams’ FY24 New York City budget for failing to protect New York's most vulnerable communities and pumping money into an already bloated NYPD budget. CPR released the following statement from spokesperson Ileana Mendez-Penate (she/her).

45 advocacy organizations denounce Mayor Adams for policies and rhetoric that led to killing of Jordan Neely

On the heels of Daniel Penny indictment, sign-on letter details how the mayor can take accountability and prevent further atrocities through real care.

New York, NY -  Today, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) released a sign-on letter demanding comprehensive accountability for the killing of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man and former Michael Jackson impersonator, who was choked to death on a crowded NYC subway on May 1 by another passenger, Daniel Penny, a white ex-Marine. The letter, which was delivered to the mayor this afternoon, is an effort to put an end to the perpetual violence against communities in need and a demand that Mayor Adams stop stoking the heigh

Community Groups and Elected Officials Demand Charges Dropped Against New Yorkers Violently Arrested by NYPD at Protest Calling for Cuts to Bloated NYPD Budget

New York, NY - Today, community organizations and elected officials from across the city packed the court to support community members who were violently arrested while trying to keep people safe during a May 24th rally and march to protest the Mayor’s budget cuts to essential programs and services while he continues to expand funding and resources to police and corrections.

Advocates Condemn Budget Cuts and Call for More Resources for Police Oversight Board

Last night, the Civilian Complaint Review Board announced that the unit to investigate racial profiling and police bias won’t have enough funds to operate past June under the mayor’s proposed budget. Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from CPR spokesperson Rama Issa-Ibrahim. 

 

 
 
 
 

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