CREATING THE PLAN
The Bronx-wide Coalition has launched our Bronx-wide planning process to create a community-led, long-term economic development plan for the borough grounded in racial justice and economic democracy. This page outlines how we got to where we are now, step by step.
VISION & VALUES (2019/2020)
BRONX-WIDE PLATFORMS AND PRIORITIES (2020/2021)
Our platforms built on the collective efforts of the Bronx-wide Coalition, made up of local residents and twenty-four organizations who co-created the Bronx-wide People’s Platform for Congress 2020, which articulates systemic policy solutions at the federal level. Our process of building solidarity and creating shared platforms paved the way.
In January 2021, our Bronx-wide Coalition unveiled the Bronx People’s Platform for NYC.
In the spring of 2021, we held informational sessions on ranked choice voting, held nonpartisan candidate forums for city elected offices, held a Bronxwide day of action around getting out the vote, and also began running peoples assemblies for our planning process.
SPRING 2021 SECTORAL BREAKOUTS SWOT
Starting in Spring 2021 as we held candidate forums for local elections we also held Bronx People’s Assemblies focused on conducting a SWOT analysis, a tool to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (S-W-O-T) across seven sectors. A sector is an area of the economy, and we are focusing on these sectors because of the impact they have on our local economy and our lives.
These word clouds represent at a glance the ideas that came up in each breakout.
SUMMER/FALL 2021 PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLIES
From May-October 2021, we continued running peoples assemblies over zoom and in person, where safety allowed. We used google jamboards, poster paper, and conversations to build on the earlier analysis done in the spring to begin to identify and shape ideas for potential economic development projects.
These ideas drew on examples that we already have in the Bronx that are moving us in the right direction, on institutions and opportunities that could be shifted or transform to better address challenges we face, and on ideas and projects that are being experimented with in other places that don’t exist yet here in the Bronx (but could and should!)
After months of engagement with hundreds of Bronx residents, we had a lot of ideas! We compiled all of them here in early 2022 so that we could move on to next stage: the proposal and project development stage. To see more about that process, you can visit the online tool we used for it, which is here.
An Asset-Based Approach
Although we will identify weaknesses, and threats, our process is grounded in an asset-based approach. An asset is simply something that holds value. Examples are people, economic resources, organizations, land, culture, and more. An asset based approach highlights the strengths and opportunities in our borough--what we already have, what’s working, and what’s beneting us -- in order to help us develop solutions from this perspective.
Root Causes
We encourage you to think about root causes. Root causes allow us to identify and understand not just the symptoms of consequences of issues, but the underlying root causes. Once we have a clear analysis of the root causes of the issues we are facing in the Bronx, we can come up with systemic solutions that target the root, not just the symptoms or consequences. When we say systemic solutions, we are talking about transforming existing systems and sectors, which is about creating new goals and better outcomes for Bronxites.
Intersections
We know all of these sectors are interconnected, and we encourage you to highlight those connections. We also know that these sectors have sometimes been narrowly defined. We encourage you to think expansively about the things that impact these sectors and the potential solutions.