Online Tools for Local Community Needs

DCP’s Community District Profiles is an interactive web tool that makes detailed data about community districts directly accessible to the public. The tool’s maps and statistics illustrate the built environment, socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and select service performance indicators for each district. For example, information about the built environment, from land use and zoning rules to public facilities and existing and planned projects, can be found, alongside information about flood risk, and much more.

Online Tools for Local Community Needs DCP’s Facilities Explorer uses data on more than 35,000 New York City facilities and program sites from nearly one hundred City, State, and Federal agencies. This information can be viewed and downloaded using the Facilities Explorer, an interactive web tool that allows for the creation of custom maps to help New Yorkers better understand the breadth of government resources in their neighborhoods. City agencies also use the data to inform neighborhood planning, facility siting decisions, and fair share analyses.

How Community Boards Influence City Investments

The New York City Charter mandates that all 59 Community Boards submit annual Statements of Community District Needs, as well as related Community Board Budget Requests, to collectively inform city agencies about each district’s challenges, priorities, and specific requests for capital and expense funding. DCP and OMB have collaborated to facilitate the creation and submission of these products through a standardized online submission form and tool for the collection and redistribution of agency responses to Community Board Budget Requests. These online tools provide an efficient system for collecting submissions from all 59 boards, which typically include upwards of 3,500 direct agency budget requests annually.

In addition to this process of Community Board submissions and Agency responses, OMB also facilitates pre-submission Borough Budget Consultations, through which Community Boards can directly engage with city agencies to better understand agency priorities and consequently inform their submissions. Similarly, DCP engages in a broad range of pre- submission Community Board support activities to assist CB staff in everything from understanding the components and requirements of the submissions to conducting public outreach to inform district priorities, as well as technical assistance and guidance in completing the submission itself.

This annual process is a significant avenue for communities to exert democratic influence on city budgeting and represents a substantial opportunity for the continued growth and advancement of community accessibility and participation in city planning and decision-making.

How City Agencies Collaborate with Communities

DCP develops neighborhoods studies with the public

In 2023, DCP created the Community Planning and Engagement Division to transform the way city government plans with communities across all types of policies and projects, including for affordable housing, job development, investments in infrastructure and community-supporting services, and coordinating funding to address service-related issues.

This new division works internally and externally with DCP’s partner agencies to enable active community engagement, holistic neighborhood planning, and participatory policy development readily available for New Yorkers to access, and to continually improve DCP’s online tools putting planning data at the public’s fingertips, and more.

DCP will lean on this division in support of the City of Yes – three citywide text amendments to make New York City greener, more prosperous, and more equitable – as well as current and future neighborhood plans, such as Bronx Metro- North and the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use plans.

DDC coordinates with communities during construction

DDC continues an innovative one-to-one communications strategy. The agency engages communities and individual stakeholders as partners during the execution of construction work to alleviate any day-to-day impacts on the community, such as water shutdowns, and to coordinate work hours to avoid impacting sensitive receptors like schools and hospitals. The agency provides on-the-ground personnel during construction to coordinate street closures and utility shutoffs and arranges special requests such as deliveries to local homes and businesses. Borough-specific assistant directors are responsible for early and continuous outreach to key project stakeholders to address project issues.

DDC is currently conducting a pilot program to enhance the work of community construction liaisons (CCLs), who work on behalf of DDC in the community throughout construction. Additional efforts to engage communities in project planning and delivery include a new process to provide communities with earlier notification of scheduled projects, the appointment of business corridor liaisons to work with the small business community, and enhanced community engagement on new and complex programs, such as East Side Coastal Resiliency and the Borough-Based Jails program.

DOT facilitates direct conversations on street safety improvements

DOT is improving community engagement by building relationships with community organizations that have meaningful ties and demonstrated experience in mobilizing their constituencies. Similarly, DOT used the Street Ambassador and Mobility Management programs to better reach underserved populations. The Street Ambassadors visit NYC neighborhoods to speak with community members and request their feedback on projects and share updates on upcoming initiatives – they were deployed 113 times in fiscal year 2022. DOT uses this information to help prioritize specific street and safety improvements.