Final Push for #NYCBudgetJustice

We’re days away from New York City’s June 30th budget deadline

We’re days away from New York City’s June 30th budget deadline — that's how much time we have to change the direction of this city and take the first step toward a new vision of safety and thriving. It’s up to us to make this moment count.

How can you take action?

  • Join us in the streets on Thursday 6/25 at 5pm for our most critical action yet. Through art, performance and by taking the streets, we will call on Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to cut AT LEAST $1 billion directly from the NYPD and redirect that money to services, programs, and infrastructure to the communities hardest hit by this crisis.
  • Please continue to call council members and ask your friends and family to make these calls too! We are regularly updating the list of targeted council members and the call script to reflect key demands and changing politics. If you called last week, call again today!
  • At this moment, scores of activists from our partners at VOCAL-NY have thrown down the gauntlet to #OccupyCityHall! They are putting their bodies on the line — literally sleeping in the streets to demand that the council #DefundTheNYPD. They need our support. If you can, join them, either overnight or for as much time as you can give. They also need help with supplies to keep the occupation going until the council agrees to our demands and votes on a budget.
  • If you’re taking action in the streets, sign up for someone at JFREJ home base to keep track of you and make sure you’re home safe. Make a request for Homebase support here.
  • We still need security, copwatching, and marshalling volunteers for our Thursday, 6/25 action. Please email yehudah@jfrej.org ASAP with your name, email and phone number. Let us know if you can arrive by 4pm and stay until 10pm? If not, what time can you arrive and by when do you have to leave? And let us know if you have action security or marshall experience. Thank you!
  • Keep the pressure on! Download our Jews4BlackLives Ritual Toolkit. Use these rituals as you take action — whether by marching in the streets, calling your representatives, creating resource materials, contributing financial or material resources, leading and facilitating educational opportunities, or providing support to a friend.
  • If you're an artist or cultural worker who wants to support the #NYCBudgetJustice campaign, check out our Arts Brief.

Why are we still fighting for #NYCBudgetJustice? Haven’t many council members agreed to cut at least $1 billion from the NYPD? Yes — we’ve made incredible progress, but we can’t let the council — even council members who have pledged to support us — get away with half measures and fudging the numbers. We don’t just want at least $1 billion dollars — we want the cops out of schools and out of mental health response and homeless “outreach.” We want misconduct punished and killer cops fired. And we want transparency about the NYPD’s bloated budget and sketchy finances. Meanwhile the mayor is standing against us, and could veto the council’s budget. We’ve come a long way, but we haven’t won anything yet.

Perhaps most importantly, we need to make it crystal clear that cutting the NYPD’s budget this year is the beginning of a movement, not the end of one. We’re going to take back control of our city, tear down the racist, rotten institutions of policing and mass incarceration and build something beautiful in their place. This is just the beginning.

Right now, our specific demands include:

  • CUT at least $1B to from NYPD FY21 expense budget - and REDIRECT all related savings (over $1B) to be redirected to communities.
  • DENY and CANCEL all new policing-related initiatives and related budget increases in NYPD's FY21 budget (this includes canceling the misguided "ambassador" program the Mayor recently announced. NYC can't afford to keep letting NYPD create new public relations initiatives when public health infrastructure, programs & safety net don't meet the survival needs of Black, Latinx and other NYers of color.)
  • Require increased transparency of NYPD budget by including formal transparency "terms & conditions" in the FY21 budget that gets adopted

Some key campaign resources:


Related News