News

From our campaign launch in March until the budget was passed at the end of June, we led the People’s Budget coalition to fight against Mayor Adams' proposed budget cuts to libraries, schools, CUNY, and social and housing services. Mayor Adams tried to cut $2.5 billion from these vital services while further bloating the NYPD’s budget. While the final budget was nowhere near what New Yorkers deserve, we are proud to have helped reverse many of these crippling cuts and build a stronger coalition for future fights.

“Advocates and council members worked tirelessly during this budget process to protect New Yorkers from the Mayor's cuts. We were able to claw back bare minimum funding for libraries, 3-K conversions and Promise NYC, affordable housing and NYCHA, among other vital restorations. But the fact that these fights were necessary in the first place shows just how low Mayor Adams has set the bar. 

Mayor Adams’ FY24 executive budget fails to invest in the services New Yorkers need – and then fails to provide an honest explanation for these cuts. The People’s Plan and its steering committee organizations release the following initial analysis and statements regarding Mayor Eric Adams’ FY24 executive budget (based on available information). 

“While still reviewing the details of this response, we applaud the Speaker and the Council for standing up to the dangerous and fiscally irresponsible cuts proposed by the Mayor. The council’s budget response echoes many of the People’s Budget campaign demands, with increased funding for 3-K, CUNY, public schools, libraries, adult literacy, and health and social services, as well as reining in unaccountable NYPD spending. Our coalition with tens of thousands of members across the city calls on the council to hold the line in the upcoming negotiations against Mayor Adams’ dangerous cuts, ensuring that a budget cannot pass unless it invests in the services all New Yorkers need.”

The People’s Plan, its thirteen steering committee organizations and dozens of affiliated grassroots groups, and allied elected officials launched the 2023 “People’s Budget” campaign today at the Tweed Courthouse at 11:00am. Over the coming months, New Yorkers will continue to demand that Mayor Eric Adams maintain full funding for public education and critical social services, remove bloat from the NYPD and DOC budgets, and make key investments now to safeguard the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

The council should reject these disruptive and unnecessary mid-year cuts, reaffirm the promise of universal 3-K, and tell Mayor Adams to focus on fixing the administrative rot that has decimated city agencies during his first year in office.

The New York City Department of Education announced today that FY24 federal stimulus money will be used to hold all New York City schools harmless for register changes, a temporary reversal of the administration policy announced earlier this year. In the face of months of denial and inaction by the Adams administration, the intense public pressure applied by education advocates and allied council members was decisive in winning this temporary policy reversal, adding limited resources for schools serving new asylum-seeking families and saving hundreds of other schools from the additional mid-year cuts that the Adams administration had originally planned. The DOE announcement underlines the fact that the policy reversal is temporary and they plan to continue mid-year cuts again next year.