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NYC Speaks

Shape the future of your city alongside thousands of fellow New Yorkers
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  • About Us

    NYC Speaks is an epic effort to bring together tens of thousands of New Yorkers from all walks of life to inform the priorities and policies of the new mayor, his administration, and the future of New York City. We are a network of civic and community partners deeply invested in building a better city for all of us.

  • You know what matters most to you, your family and your neighbors. We want to hear about your priorities, your challenges, and your ideas for solutions. Over the next six months, you’ll be able to participate in surveys and other community data collection efforts, attend a community dinner, join a focus group, weigh in online and by text, and many other ways to make your voice heard. We’ll come to you. Community leaders will host conversations at libraries, community centers, churches, mosques and synagogues in neighborhoods across the city.

  • We’ll hear each other’s voices and ideas about the issues that matter to us—from our health to our housing, our jobs to our neighborhoods, the education of our children to the safety of our streets. There is no shortage of good ideas that can help improve the ways that city government affects people’s lives. We’ll build on all of the great work that has come before – the plans and platforms, the programs and projects that have gathered your data and your ideas – and build out a community-driven plan that drives action.

  • NYC Speaks will invite the new administration and city leaders to meet the needs of everyday New Yorkers by translating your input into concrete priorities, policies and budget items. The goal is to make sure that we all understand how city government works—and have the opportunity to change it.

Goals

1

Amplify the voices of New Yorkers on issues like jobs, schools, and health. We’ll work hard to hear from New Yorkers typically excluded from decision-making: Black and brown, low-income, immigrant, youth, NYCHA and disabled communities.

2

Strengthen neighborhoods by working with and supporting community-based organizations and neighborhood institutions across the city, especially in Black and brown communities and those hardest hit by COVID.

3

Make good on the promise of democracy by creating the conditions for everyday New Yorkers to inform, inspire, and hold accountable City government​.

How it works

We have launched a variety of opportunities for New Yorkers to share what works well in NYC, what should change and how to change it, and what is most important to act on now. Your ideas will be shared with the new Mayor and his team with the goal of shaping an agenda for New York, by New Yorkers.

The NYC Speaks engagement and government transformation strategy builds upon a rigorous and tested model grounded in community data and consensus that builds towards action.

Our partner community organizations across the city are spreading the word, hosting conversations, sharing survey findings and engaging in activities that make people eager to learn more about how city government works.

Stay tuned for information about events happening now across the city that will give you and your neighbors a chance to share new ideas for improving your neighborhood, your borough, your city.

We’ve asked for your input across eight issue areas:

Health & Well-being

Racial Equity

Arts & Culture

Climate & Infrastructure

Housing & Neighborhoods

Education & Youth Development

Economy & Workforce

Public Safety

Your input comes in many forms.

Community Discussions

Surveys

Data and Practitioners

How to Get Involved

We need YOU! Fill out THIS brief questionnaire to tell us how you want to get involved in the planning, in the events, and in the activities.

Volunteer

Who Supports This

NYC Speaks is an independent initiative funded by the Goodnation Foundation, an IRS 501(c)(3) organization, and managed by HR&A Advisors, a mission-driven, employee-owned urban planning and economic development consulting firm based in NYC.

NYC Speaks is partnered with a robust network of civic and community-based organizations to co-lead this process. The initiative is also convening philanthropic institutions such as the Ford Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, Galaxy Gives, Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies, FWD.us Education Fund, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the New York Women’s Foundation.

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