Manhattan Community Board Applications Hold Steady In 2021: Data

NEW YORK, NY — The results are in from this year's Manhattan community board applications, and they show a diverse applicant pool that is about the same size as last year's, according to data shared with Patch.

Between January and February, 721 residents applied to join one of the borough's 12 boards, according to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's office, who provided the results.

That's a slight drop from last year, when 728 people applied. It's also nowhere near the 56 percent surge in applications seen in Queens, which was attributed to that borough's new online application system. (Manhattan's has been fully digital since 2015.)

Who applied?

Here is another takeaway from the data: while some New York community boards have historically struggled to recruit non-white members, whites were slightly underrepresented among this year's Manhattan applicants.

White people make up about 57 percent of Manhattan's population, according to Census data, but were about 53 percent of those who applied this year.

Meanwhile, Black residents, who are about 15 percent of Manhattan, comprised nearly 22 percent of community board applicants.

Other underrepresented groups included those who identified as Asian or Hispanic and Latino. Native Americans, who comprise less than 1 percent of the borough, made up nearly 3 percent of applications. (Applicants could select more than one race and ethnicity.)

Broken down by age group, the biggest demographic were those between 30 and 39 years old, who comprised nearly a quarter of applicants. People who were 60 or older were close behind, at about 21 percent.

Slightly more men applied than women — 368 compared to 325 — with three applicants identifying as transgender and eight as gender non-conforming.

As might be expected, renters made up the largest chunk of applicants — more than half — while Manhattanites who live in co-ops, condos or own their homes outright made up about a third.

What do community board members do?

Community board members are all unpaid volunteers who serve two-year terms.

They are tasked with weighing in on land use and development, deciding whether to issue permits such as liquor licenses, assessing neighborhood needs, and addressing other community concerns.

Now that the applications are in, Borough President Brewer will choose from among them to appoint members to 300 available seats this spring. Brewer herself will select about half of those 300, while the other half will be chosen by local City Council members.

In a statement, Brewer said she was "grateful" that hundreds of Manhattanites applied to the board — a push that her office amplified through street outreach, social media campaigns on Facebook and LinkNYC kiosks, newsletter messages, and more.

"As we begin to recover from this pandemic, we need a wide variety of voices to reflect a diverse vision for what the future of Manhattan looks like. I am excited to read the applications and begin the process of training and appointing our new and returning community leaders," Brewer said.

Click through a citywide map of community boards here.