WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT?

We have created a quick and direct guide for New Yorkers to reach out to key government officials (like City Council Members, Mayor de Blasio, Mayoral Administration, the NYC Office of Management and Budget just to name a few) and Mayoral hopefuls to urge defunding the NYPD.

WHAT DOES THIS DOCUMENT COVER?

Below you will find more information on:

• Why this work is important (and who decides the City’s budget)
• A list of key calls

• Who the players are
• Call scripts for when you reach out

• A list of key emails

• Who the players are (this includes Mayoral hopefuls!)
• Email instructions and script

• How to get in contact with the Mayor and his administration

• Direct links
• Message scripts

• Frequently Asked Questions and their answers
• Links to additional ways to help
• Directory of Council Members’ emails & phone numbers

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Police abolition is not possible without defunding the police.

The City sets its budget based on fiscal years, which run from July 1st to June 30th, instead of calendar years. Mayor de Blasio's proposed 2021 budget is still being negotiated between elected officials, the NYC Office of Management and Budget, and the Mayoral Administration. Currently, de Blasio’s budget gives the NYPD 5 BILLION dollars while slashing social services and essential city operations. Every dollar the NYPD gets is a more militarized police force and more money taken away from housing, homeless services, the Dept of Health, and essential programs that serve citizens.

Mayor de Blasio has the most jurisdiction over the City’s budget, but by putting pressure on our elected officials, we can encourage them to use their influence to adjust the FY21 budget by moving resources away from policing and back into our communities.

#NYCBudgetJustice means that we divert dollars away from cops and invest back in community services, programs, and infrastructures. For more information, visit the Communities United for Police Reform's budget breakdown and their detailed explanation on how to #DefundNYPD.

KEY CALLS:

Call #1 - Your City Council Member 

Find your Council Member’s phone number at the end of this doc

Call #2 - Daniel Dromm, Chair Of The Council Finance Committee

This committee is responsible for reviewing and modifying the City budget!

212-788-7066 or 718-803-6373

Call #3 - Vanessa Gibson, Chair Of The Finance Committee's Subcommittee On Capital Budget And Finance

718-588-7500 or 212-788-6856

Call #4 - Donovan Richards, Chair Of The Committee On Public Safety 

212-788-7216 or 718-471-7014 

Call #5 - Speaker Corey Johnson, Speaker Of The Council

He is a Mayor hopeful

212-564-7757 or 212-788-7210

Call #6 - Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams

He is a Mayor hopeful

718-802-3700

Call #7 - Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

212-669-7200

CALL SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a resident of [BOROUGH]. The aide might ask you for your address at this time. I’m calling today to urge [GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL’S NAME] to call on Mayor de Blasio to explicitly denounce police brutality, abusive policing and condemn the abhorrent actions of the NYPD.

I am also calling to ask that they deny Mayor de Blasio’s 2021 budget proposal. Instead of cutting youth services by 32% and leaving the NYPD budget intact, I strongly urge [GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL’S NAME] to cut from the NYPD budget and redirect those funds back to social service programs like Homeless Services, Workforce Investment, Dept. of Education or the Dept of Health.

Can I count on [GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL’S NAME] to deny Mayor de Blasio’s budget proposal? Thank you.

KEY EMAILS:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

In order to avoid sending multiple emails, copy the email addresses below, as well your City Council Member’s (found at the end of this document), all on BCC (leave the “To” section blank) in one email draft. Then copy our email script below and remember to sign your name! This allows you to send an email to everyone at once without causing a “reply all” situation.

dromm@council.nyc.gov

district16bronx@council.nyc.gov 

drichards@council.nyc.gov

drichards@council.nyc.gov 

speakerjohnson@council.nyc.gov

askeric@brooklynbp.nyc.gov 

action@comptroller.nyc.gov

reception@advocate.nyc.gov 

BREAKDOWN OF EACH KEY MEMBER TO EMAIL

Email #1 - Your City Council Member

Find your Council Member’s email address at the end of this doc

Email #2 - Daniel Dromm, Chair Of The Council Finance Committee 

This committee is responsible for reviewing and modifying the City budget!

dromm@council.nyc.gov 

Email #3 - Vanessa Gibson, Chair Of The Finance Committee's Subcommittee On Capital Budget And Finance district16bronx@council.nyc.gov 

Email #4 - Donovan Richards, Chair Of The Committee On Public Safety

drichards@council.nyc.gov 

Email #5 - Speaker Corey Johnson, Speaker Of The Council

He is a Mayor hopeful

speakerjohnson@council.nyc.gov 

Email #6 - Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams

He is a Mayor hopeful

askeric@brooklynbp.nyc.gov 

Email #7 - Scott Stringer, NYC Comptroller

He is a Mayor hopeful

action@comptroller.nyc.gov

Email #8 - Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

reception@advocate.nyc.gov 

EMAIL SCRIPT

SUBJECT TITLE: Ask Mayor De Blasio to Defund NYPD in the 2021 Budget

Dear Public Official,

I am writing to urge you to call on Mayor de Blasio to explicitly denounce police brutality, abusive policing and condemn the abhorrent actions of the NYPD. The Mayor’s silence does not hold the police accountable and frankly, does not incite any confidence in his abilities.

I am also writing to urge you to deny Mayor de Blasio’s FY2021 budget proposal, specifically in regards to the NYPD’s budget. It is unconscionable that our public school teachers will not get the funds they need and our youth programs are being slashed while the NYPD will receive 5 billion dollars.

Cut from the NYPD budget through changes like:

• NYPD hiring freeze, including School Safety Agents
• Cancellation of cadet classes - there is no need for cadet classes when schools are understaffed in terms of nurses, guidance counselors and, social workers
• Cuts to NYPD’s expansion into social services such as homeless outreach, youth initiative, mental health response, and social distancing enforcement
• Cuts related to abusive policing! End the practice of keeping abusive police officers on taxpayer-funded salaries
• Cuts to non-essential areas, such as public relations, media budget and, surveillance infrastructure

Redirect the funds made available through these cuts back to social services and programs, such as the Summer Youth Employment Program, housing, the Department of Health, and the infrastructure we need for our city to recover from COVID-19. Can we count on you to do the right thing by us?

Thank you,

[YOUR NAME]

ADDITIONAL MESSAGES TO SEND:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: 

Mayor De Blasio and Melanie Hartzog do not have public email addresses. In order to reach them, we’ll have to send them messages through their direct contact pages on the NYC government website. Please see below for links and instructions.

Message #1 - Mayor De Blasio

Direct contact page: https://tinyurl.com/deblasioemail

MESSAGE TOPIC: Budget 

Dear Mayor De Blasio,

I’m an “everyday New Yorker” writing to express my outrage and disgust at your silence and inaction in condemning the NYPD’s abhorrent actions.

Our city is suffering and needs community investment more than ever. It is unacceptable that your FY 2021 budget steals from our schools, our youth, and homeless services to fund a racist police force that brutalizes our Black and Latinx citizens.

Make equitable cuts across city departments, institute a hiring freeze for the NYPD, and cut its bloated budget. I’m also asking that we stop paying salaries to abusive cops on leave of absence due to incidents of abuse and brutality.

Do not sacrifice our poor and communities of color.

Message #2 - Melanie Hartzog, Director Of Office And Management And Budget For The Mayor

Direct contact page: http://tinyurl.com/melaniehartzog 

MESSAGE TYPE: Complaint

MESSAGE TOPIC: Budget

Dear Director Hartzog,

I am writing to urge you to call on Mayor de Blasio to explicitly denounce police brutality, abusive policing and condemn the abhorrent actions of the NYPD. The Mayor’s silence does not hold the police accountable and frankly, does not incite any confidence in his abilities.

I am also writing to ask you to call an emergency council meeting and deny Mayor de Blasio’s FY2021 budget proposal, specifically in regards to the NYPD’s budget. In light of the police violence that has been taking place in our city, it is clear that the police must be held accountable.

I strongly urge you to consider these changes to the NYPD budget:

• NYPD hiring freeze, including School Safety Agents
• Cancellation of cadet classes - there is no need for cadet classes when schools are understaffed in terms of nurses, guidance counselors, and social workers
• Cuts to NYPD’s expansion into social services such as homeless outreach, youth initiative, mental health response, and social distancing enforcement
• Cuts related to abusive policing. End the practice of keeping abusive police officers on taxpayer-funded salaries
• Cuts to non-essential areas, such as public relations, media budget, and surveillance infrastructure

Please redirect the funds made available through these cuts to social services and programs, such as the Summer Youth Employment Program, housing, the Department of Health, and the infrastructure we need for our city to recover from COVID-19.

Can we count on you to support New York City and to deny Mayor de Blasio’s budget proposal?

Thank you,

[YOUR NAME]

FAQS AND LINKS

Q. What is this for?

1. We believe one of the ways to end police brutality is by defunding the police. NYC has to pass a city budget by July 1st, and Mayor de Blasio's proposed 2021 budget will give the NYPD 5 BILLION dollars while slashing social services and essential city operations. Every dollar the NYPD gets is a more militarized police force and more money taken away from housing, homeless services, the Dept of Health, and essential programs that serve citizens. #NYCBudgetJustice means that we divert dollars away from cops and invest in community services, programs, and infrastructures.

Q. Do I have to call? Can I email instead?

1. Phone anxiety is real, but please try calling first! Staff is supposed to keep track of the number of calls they get and calls are taken more seriously. If you get voicemail or cannot get through, send an email.

Q. I don’t live in the boroughs. Can I participate?

1. Thank you for your support! Unfortunately, this is an NYC issue, and constituents' are given priority. If you don't currently live in the boroughs please consider donating to community bail funds or to Communities United for Police Reform instead. You can also reach out to your local community advocacy groups to talk about how to defund the police in your area.

Q. I called! Now what?

1. That’s great! You can share our #NYCBudgetJustice post on social and tag two friends to commit to calling/emailing. You can also create your own (we have a sample post below) to get more people to join.

The work does not stop there. We have a primary and an election coming up. 35 City Council members will be up for reelection - that’s more than half of the entire council. Keep up the pressure on them! This is a calendar of City Council public-facing events that we can all attend (virtually).

        Sample social post:

Mayor de Blasio’s proposed FY2021 budget, which goes into effect on July 1st, will give the NYPD a 5 billion dollar budget, which will further empower them to terrorize Black and Latinx citizens.

We must defund the police. Join me in calling our City Council members to demand they call an emergency meeting and deny de Blasio’s budget proposal. Ask that they cut the NYPD budget and instead use those funds for crucial social services and programs that will aid  Black, Latino and other communities of color, including our elders and youths who are especially vulnerable right now during COVID-19. #NYCBudgetJustice #DefundThePolice #DefundNYPD #BlackLivesMatter

Q.  My city council member said they would not deny the budget. Now what?

1. If your rep's office said they would not deny the budget proposal, be polite but keep calling them. Share their names and stance on social media to let others know and urge your friends to call as well - the more voices that chime in, the more pressure they will feel to change their stance.

Remember, we elect these officials to represent US. On November 7, 35 of these 51 members will be up for reelection. If they do not vote for us, we will vote them out - so don’t forget to update your voting address or register to vote! The New York City Campaign Finance Board has a list of who has filed for Candidate Certification or not.

Q. What else can I do?

1. Call your state senators and representatives and tell them to support the Safer New York Act. The Safer New York Act is a bundle of bills (including the repeal of NYS-50(a)*) that call for increased transparency and accountability in policing, such as making misconduct records public. You can learn more about these bills at Change the NYPD and get scripts for phone calls. 

Donate to community bail funds across the country. Visit this National Bail Fund Network to see a breakdown across the country.

Donate and support other groups that are member-led, push for equity, justice, and a better New York:

Make the Road NY

VOCAL

RAPP

DIRECTORY OF COUNCIL MEMBER EMAILS/PHONE NUMBERS

Directory link: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/