Students brainstorm ideas for capital projects

<p>Students in Longwood got to brainstorm ideas Monday for capital projects worth $1 million in their district.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 15, 2018, 11:34 PM

Updated 2,024 days ago

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Students in Longwood got to brainstorm ideas Monday for capital projects worth $1 million in their district.
Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr. rolled out participatory budgeting at Middle School 302 and Girls Prep Bronx.
Participatory budgeting is when the community has the chance to suggest and vote on ideas for capital projects. The ones deemed possible are voted on by residents as young as 11 years old.
"Believe it or not, I think 11-year-olds can probably give more insights than adults. They know what may be missing in their school, they know what may be missing in a park. Just walking to school, they may see something and they may just come out with a good idea,” said Salamanca Jr.
Some students discussed better bathrooms and upgrading classrooms.
This isn’t the first time the school has gotten involved with participatory budgeting. Earlier this year, it won $600,000 for auditorium upgrades. The year before that, it received $500,000 to improve the park across the street.
The students say they feel honored to have big decisions like these up to them.

"It's like a privilege to us, and it's something that others don't get to do,” said one student.

The participatory budgeting process happens in half of the City Council districts in the borough.

While they were just collecting ideas on Monday, the final voting that includes the selected community projects takes place during a one-week period in late spring.
The winners will be announced in the summer.


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