BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — New laptops, smart boards and science carts are coming to central Brooklyn’s schools — along with renovations to Marcy Library’s auditorium — as part of this year’s participatory budgeting process.
More than 600 voters chose five projects to get a share of more than $1 million in public funds in Bed-Stuy and northern Crown Heights, according to Stefani Zinerman, chief of staff for Councilman Robert Cornegy.
“This is grassroots democracy as its best,” Zinerman said during the announcement Monday.
“To me, participatory budgeting is important because of what we see here: community. People who would have never had an opportunity to meet each other, never had an opportunity to work with each other and toward something and actually see it successfully move toward completion.”
This year marks the first time Cornegy’s office brought participatory budgeting to the district, in which residents as young as 14 can pitch and vote on projects they’d like to see funded.
Hundreds of ideas were narrowed down to 12 to vie for the top spots, Zinerman said, including a dog run for Herbert Von King Park, security cameras for the Albany and Marcy Houses and a dance studio for P.S. 3.
Five projects won, including Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School, which will receive $248,000 for four science carts.
“We were out there, we did it,” said parent Kateema Boatwright, who added that she and other members of the school community knocked on doors, made phone calls and gave out flyers to encourage others to vote for the project.
“This means a better opportunity to introduce kids to science hands-on. It would be like a whole, big new world for them.”
Other winning projects in the 36th Council District are:
► $350,000 to renovate and upgrade the Marcy Library auditorium at DeKalb and Nostrand avenues, with changes to the multi-purpose room with new electrical, lighting, flooring and shelving.
► $70,000 for new laptops for P.S. 59 on Throop Avenue.
► $600,000 to new surfaces for two of the four basketball courts in Crown Heights’ Brower Park, including new pavement, lines, and drainage.
► $320,000 for new smart boards for five schools: P.S. 289, P.S. 138, P.S. 93, P.S. 243, and Bedford Academy.
The projects total at $1.58 million in funding — $1 million of which came from participatory budgeting, Zinerman said, $100,000 of which was committed by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and the rest from Cornegy’s capital budget.
