PS 11 Schoolyard Upgrade ($350,000)
“Sports and play areas inspire imaginative play, hone cognitive skills, promote teamwork, and help children perfect their social and emotional skills.”
PS 11 is a 793-student elementary school with a student population that is 60% Black and 14% Latinx located in Clinton Hill. The school yard, which is a concrete play area, has been damaged from years of construction equipment storage and scaffolding, rendering it unsafe for use by students. This project would create a safer schoolyard for students, including a small race track and basketball court, and the surrounding community to promote imaginative play, hone cognitive skills, and help children perfect their social and emotional skills.
New Bridges Elementary (PS 532) Experiential Learning Lab ($250,000)
“By engaging and including families and the broader community, we see the school growing as a hub of the neighborhood – not seen as just educating students, but as a resource for all – allowing the learning to continue and flourish inside and outside of the building.”
New Bridges Elementary is a 383-student public elementary school with a student population that is 72% Black, 20% Latinx, and 86% economically disadvantaged. Currently, the school does not have sufficient resources for students to have hands-on learning experiences, a particularly acute challenge for a school in which nearly one-in-four students have a learning challenge or disability. By installing an experiential learning lab, students can engage in hands-on learning activities that are linked to the prioritized learning they’re doing in their own classrooms.
Ebbets Field Middle School Community Garden Upgrade ($250,000)
“Safer space for youth and community to engage, sustainability awareness, education, food insecurity.”
The community garden at Ebbets Field Middle School, a 129-student public middle school with a student body that is 73% Black and 15% Latinx, has lain dormant since the Covid-19 pandemic. By reviving this garden, the school will once again have a space for the students and community to come together, learn how to grow food sustainably, and positively contribute to our city’s environmental well-being.
PS 270 Library Upgrade ($150,000)
“The goal of the library renovation project is to create a beautiful learning space that allows students to explore and deepen their knowledge of topics that interest them.”
PS 270 is an 84-student, public elementary school with a student body that is entirely students of color (62% Black, 30% Latinx, and 8% AAPI) and is 95% economically disadvantaged. The students at PS 270 are among those with the greatest need in our district, and their existing library does not have the technology needed to ensure students can succeed from elementary school to high school and beyond. This project would provide new technology and materials to upgrade PS 270’s library.
Thanks again to all who participated this cycle. Keep an eye out in our weekly email moving forward to details on the next Participatory Budgeting cycle. Until then, start thinking of projects you’d like to see in your neighborhood!