Here's What Prospect, Crown Heights Gets In NYC's 2022 Budget

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The record-high $99 billion budget recently passed by the City Council includes millions of dollars flowing to the Crown and Prospect Heights area.

Billed as a "recovery budget" by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the spending package for the 2022 fiscal year — which starts Oct. 1 of this year — was bolstered by billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.

Besides major citywide items like a $15 million "baby bonds program" and $4 million for CUNY scholarships, the budget also includes smaller neighborhood funding allocated by Crown and Prospect Heights' council members, Robert Cornegy and Laurie Cumbo.

Patch reviewed the two public budget documents and picked out some notable neighborhood funds — here they are:

Several local institutions were earmarked for funding:

• $1 million for Heritage Village
• $1 million for the Brooklyn Children's Museum
• $200,000 for the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bed-Stuy History
• A total of $170,000 for the Jewish Children's Museum
• $1.25 million for the Brooklyn Museum, which will go specifically to the African Galleries.

Cumbo's budget included several school projects:

• $227,000 for technology improvements at Elijah Stroud Elementary School
• $50,000 for technology improvements at Jackie Robinson School
• $115,000 for auditorium upgrades at the Brooklyn School for Music and Theater
• $140,000 for computers and printers at the Aspirations Diploma Plus High School.

Council Member Alicka Amprey-Samuel also earmarked $130,000 for P.S. 12 and $75,000 from Cumbo's budget will go to Medgar Evers College, specifically for their Center for Black Literature.

$1.75 million will go toward plans for a Shirley Chisholm Welcome Center in Prospect Park. The Prospect Park Alliance advocated for the funding to transform a disused building at the Parkside and Ocean Avenue entrance into the new welcome center, according to posts on their website.

$200,000 in Cornegy's budget will go to the Brooklyn Alliance, an initiative run by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce that helps prevent small businesses from being displaced through assisting them with economic development and job growth.

Finally, all council members have several dozens of small grants for organizations in their districts, including programming at various New York City Housing Authority developments and a Save Our Streets anti-gun violence initiative. A full list of those funding recipients can be found here.