Capital Projects: A total of eight Capital Projects are on the ballot; you can vote for one, two, three, four, or five of them. They're usually improvements to long-term physical assets, such as equipment or public facilities. The Capital Project for Kensington is to "Resurface the Soccer Field in Albemarle Playground."
Expense Projects: A total of ten Expense Projects are on the ballot; you can vote for one, two, or three of them. They're usually new, short-term programming by organizations to benefit neighborhood residents. The Expense Project for Kensington is "Women's Self-Defense for the Resistance."
The projects proposed for other neighborhoods are listed at http://bradlander.nyc/news/updates/2018-pbnyc-ballot.
Neighborhood residents propose the participatory budgeting projects. Then they do research to determine which ones can be accomplished and if they're affordable.
How the projects are paid for: Projects are paid for from tax money that the city government allocates to New York City Councilmembers' budgets. Our New York City Councilmember Brad Lander has set aside $1.5 million from his budget for this.
Who can vote: Residents can vote if they're at least eleven years old or at least in 6th grade. You don't have to be registered with the Board of Elections to vote in participatory budgeting. Just show a form of identification, such as a license, passport, or IDNYC card, a utility bill, or another document that shows your name and address.
Where and when to vote: The closest voting location is the Windsor Terrace Library at 160 E. 5th Street, at the corner of Fort Hamilton Parkway. Vote there on Saturday, April 14th, between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Other voting locations are listed at http://bradlander.nyc/2017-2018-pbnyc-season.
Online voting: If you don't want to or can't get to a voting location, you can vote online at https://pbnyc2018.d21.me.
KENSINGTON'S CAPITAL PROJECT:
"Resurface the Soccer Field in Albemarle Playground"
Summary: Replace damaged, hazardous turf in this widely-used soccer field shared by students at P.S. 230 and the Kensington community.
Cost: $500,000
Location: 12th Avenue and Dahill Road, Kensington
Who benefits: public school students, teenagers and young adults, families and adults who play sports,exercise, and picnic and enjoy cultural festivals in the playground
Project description:The soccer turf in Albemarle Playground is damaged in several areas, creating tripping hazards for the children and young adults who use the field. During the school day, over 500 children run across the turf during recess and gym periods.
Albemarle Playground is also one of the most popular public recreational areas in the neighborhood, widely used by the community on weekends and evenings. Families, children, and groups of young adults regularly use the field for pick-up soccer games, outdoor play, fitness training, community gatherings, and cultural festivals.
KENSINGTON'S EXPENSE PROJECT:
"Women's Self-Defense for the Resistance"
Cost: $5,400
Project description and purpose: International Muslim Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (IMWISE) will facilitate a series of self-defense workshops for Bangladeshi immigrant and/or Muslim young women and their allies as a response to the vitriolic anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-women rhetoric spewed by the Trump administration alongside the already existing discrimination, sexism, harassment, aggression, and gender-based violence women encounter daily within homes, workplace, and other institutions.
Given that anti-Islamic sentiments and discrimination continue to alienate young and older Muslim women in the US, Rana Abdelhamid formed IMWISE to provide a space to heal from their negative experiences of violence, hone their individuality, and learn ways to turn negative experiences into a drive for positive social change.
Self-defense training is a tool that IMWISE administers to instill women with physical strength and support them to overcome violence and become ambassadors for women’s self-determination. Alongside self-defense, there'll be a focus on other skills trainings, centering on financial autonomy and wellness.
Who it serves: The sessions will prioritize Bangladeshi and/or Bangladeshi Muslim women in the Kensington neighborhood but are open to all women in the district as a tool for community-wide resistance building in the Trump Era, alongside combating patriarchy within and outside of the community.
Kensington, Brooklyn, currently lacks a Women’s Center for Bangladeshi women whose social and political needs are often overlooked. The self-defense workshops are especially geared toward curating a permanent safe space with a goal of continued programming for Bangladeshi women in order to build up to a Women’s Center in the future.
Your vote matters Giving IMWISE a home in Kensington through Participatory Budgeting will provide an outlet for Bangladeshi women in the neighborhood to build emotional and physical strength, connect with women allies invested in protecting immigrant/Muslim women of color, and develop leadership qualities to pursue all else required for the community to survive in a state of violence.