Today, the New York City Council is voting on the city’s annual budget. Last year, in the midst of citywide protests against police brutality, the Mayor and City Council speaker promised to cut the NYPD budget by $1 billion. They never made good on that promise.

Instead, this year, the Mayor is proposing to increase the NYPD’s overall budget by at least $812 million.

We need your help! Call your city council member and demand they stop the Mayor from increasing the NYPD’s already bloated budget and redirect those monies to our schools, housing, and community driven approaches to mental health supports and safety.

Still struggling to come through a pandemic that has disproportionately ravaged Black and brown New Yorkers, our communities continue to lack the resources and investments necessary to build safe thriving neighborhoods.

Call your council member today and demand budget justice. Demand they Defund the NYPD and invest in our communities!

We have the opportunity to set our city down a path towards a just recovery. We have the opportunity to significantly increase funding for restorative justice and guidance counselors in our schools, youth jobs, supportive housing, community based mental health services, and Cure Violence programs.

We deserve safe communities free from racist and abusive policing. We can get there by rejecting a City budget that increases funding for policing and redirecting funding from the NYPD into communities of color. Time is running out before the budget vote, call your council member now.

In solidarity,