It's Our Money

Name of Your Organization:

Intergenerational Change Initiative, CUNY School of Professional Studies Youth Studies Program

Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.

The Intergenerational Change Initiative (ICI) is a team of young people ages 16-24 from around NYC partnering with CUNY School of Professional Studies Youth Studies students and professors to use social science for social justice. Some of us have been involved in the child welfare system, some have been justice involved or had a family who was, some are in school and/or working, and some are not. We relish in the diversity of our research team in relation to ethnicity, age, and life experiences.

This summer ICI conducted our first annual Youth ask Youth (YAY) census with 416 young people ages 13-24 which explored young people’s desires, dreams and experiences across a variety of topic areas such as learning, community, economics, health and relationships (see amplifyapp.org to sign up for our 2021 census). The data was revealing. In this proposal, we share the findings from our YAY census that moved us to design a CEC project to address what young people who took our census think needs to change in NYC. 

First of all, in a city with over 113 billionaires, we found that 55% of young people who took the YAY reported they had experienced some kind of food insecurity in the past 3 months. Shocking, right? We also found that young people were struggling with a variety of mental health issues. The average number of symptoms per young person was 6 with the most common symptoms being that young people are stressed, anxious, tired, nervous and had little pleasure or interest in doing things. This resonated with many of the suggestions related to addressing mental health issues identified by young people on this site.  

Young people who took the YAY also shared what they thought should change at the community level. The number one issue they identified was dirtiness in their community. We found that they also had some creative ways to address issues they identified. Some that made the top five ideas and relate to this proposal is the desire for community events and public art. Yet, while two thirds of young people (68%) expressed interest in opportunities to impact their neighborhoods, far less reported that they had opportunity for community participation (39%). We want to make sure that young people in New York City know what already exists as venues for civic participation in their communities as well as generate more opportunities for involvement.

For this CEC project, we intend to build upon the wonderful ideas the young people who took our census had about what strategies had the potential to shift some of the things that they identified as issues for them or their community. In that spirit, and aligned with the budget allocation of $20,000, we propose a series of four public events taking place in the spring of 2021 that would bring the community together to heal, enjoy, learn, beautify, etc. In light of the ongoing pandemic, they would take place outside in Washington Heights, Hunts Point, Bedford Stuyvesant, and The Rockaways. Members of ICI come from all the boroughs, so we have lead team members that will take on coordination efforts in partnership with other CBO’s in each of the communities. We will also work with the Department of Transportation’s open streets initiative and the Department of Sanitation’s to give supplies to volunteers who are helping beautify their neighborhood. Each event will include the following four activities:

1. As NYC youth we also feel like our city has potential and we are not giving up on it. We will involve people who come to these events to join our initiative to map “potential” in NYC. We will activate teams to fan out in a 5-8 block radius from the event to help us create what we are calling our ICI NYC Future Map. This is a map that uses YAY census data and recommendations to inform what we would like to see more of in our city. The ICI NYC Future Map, helps identify not only what is but what could be if we listened to the wisdom of NYC youth. For example, if there is an abandoned building in the neighborhood the teams will use our mapping tool to let us know where it's located and tell us what they think it should become (e.g affordable housing or a youth center, etc). If a team sees an unused lot, they will let us know where it is and what they could imagine being there instead (e.g. a farm or a garden).
2. In order to address some of the food needs we identified via the YAY, we will be working with a local organization(s) to create and stock a community fridge so people can take what they need or give what they can. Given the desire expressed by YAY census participants to have public art that adorns their communities, we will partner with artists (youth or adults or pairs) to make the fridges double as beautiful works of art.  
3. One of the top community issues that young people identified was their neighborhood getting increasingly dirty. We saw this rise higher on the list of top five as the summer progressed into fall in 2020. We think after a rough winter and with reduced city staff keeping public areas clean, that there will be a need to mobilize intergenerational teams to do a community clean up. Once again we will work with local community-based organizations (we have identified at least one in each area and will be reaching out this winter) to leverage their relationships to youth and families while we will leverage our CEC budget to feed volunteers.   
4. Lastly, we will have information and resources at each event about opportunities to get involved in various civic initiatives in the neighborhood (councils, activist orgs, participatory budgeting, community boards, etc), information about local college and career supports, as well as mental health supports in the neighborhood.  

Which of the following issues does your project address?

1. Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
2. Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
3. Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion

3

Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.

Youth are involved from conception to actualization of our CEC project. Two of our 10 youth members and one adult worked over break to create this proposal. Our full team will work on planning, implementation and documentation of the events.

Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.

The 20,000 will be used to pay youth and adult staff time as well as for food, art supplies and incentives for the four community events.

Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.

• Feb, March 2021-planning team of 10 young people ages 16-24 connecting with partner organizations, artists, getting supplies, gathering resources. Meet weekly.  
• April 2021 events Bedstuy and Washington Heights
• May 2021 events in Rockaways and Hunts Point
• June 2021 share actions broadly via social media, website, etc, reflection on what went well and what should be improved. CEC final report and session.
• June 30, 2021 project fully wrapped up.

Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:

1. Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
2. Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
3. Youth and student engagement
4. Civic education and advocacy
5. Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes

As a team of participatory action researchers we are interested in generating research in democratic ways and just as importantly using that research to take action in our communities. We feel that using youth generated data to inform youth action in communities that gets funded by young people’s votes is greatly aligned with both ICI and CEC’s missions. More specifically, our proposal hits on many of the activities promoted by CEC such as stewardship of public spaces, youth and student engagement and civics education. 

What is your organization's area of focus?

1. Children and youth related
2. Advocacy and organizing
3. Arts and culture
4. Civic engagement
5. Education and literacy
6. Emergency management and disaster response
7. Employment and workforce development
8. Environment and sustainability
9. Faith-based
10. Food access
11. Health and medicine
12. Homelessness and/or affordable housing
13. Human rights
14. Human services
15. Immigrants and/or refugees
16. Justice related
17. Legal services
18. People with disabilities
19. Senior services
20. Women's issues

• Children and youth related
• Advocacy and organizing
• Civic engagement

Affirmations - Type \"YES\" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.

Project Activity Alignment to CEC’s Mission: Please select which activity the project aligns with most closely.

Youth and student engagement

I confirm that may organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.

YES

I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables. 

YES

Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2020.

YES

I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.

YES