Library Budget Phone Bank 2026
We’re emailing and calling city councilmembers on the Budget Negotiating Team (BNT) directly to ask them to dedicate 0.5% of the overall city budget to our libraries.
Are you in any of these BNT councilmember’s districts? If so, find them below and then use the email templates below to send them a note.
We’ve first listed councilmembers who have been on the record supporting NYC PLAN’s demand for 0.5% with an email script reflecting their principled commitment to that demand. Further down, we have a list of the remaining BNT members with a slightly different email template below that list.
Committed Councilmembers
| District | Councilmember (emails are in the other tabs) | Email address | Phone number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Virginia Maloney – committed | District4@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7393 |
| 29 | Lynn Schulman – committed | District29@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-6981 |
| 36 | Chi Ossé – committed | District36@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7354 |
| 46 | Mercedes Narcisse – committed | District46@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7286 |
Email to committed councilmembers
Hello Councilmember ______________,
We are reaching out to you because of your role on the Budget Negotiating Team. Thank you AGAIN for your continued support of NYC PLAN’s demand for 0.5% of the overall city budget for the three public library systems. We consider you an ally for libraries! As we close in on an adopted budget this month, we are hopeful that you will keep your commitment in mind and help advocate on the behalf of patrons and library workers alike.
We know that you are juggling many funding demands, but for us this is so critical because libraries are one of the last remaining public goods in our city. Libraries represent one of the only resources in this city that are truly accessible and free to every New Yorker no matter your immigration status, income, housing status, religion, etc. Losing spaces like this would be dire for New York’s future and securing stable funding is critical in preventing that.
As a reminder of where we are: in Mayor Mamdani’s executive budget last month, he proposed $526 million for libraries, which translates to 0.42%. We are grateful that number came up since the preliminary budget, but we are still $97 million short of the 0.5% (which would be $623 million) so we still have a ways to go. Our press release on this budget can be found here:
Gothamist article – The radical readers sick of settling for low library funding
The City article – Librarians, kids throw the book at Mamdani over broken funding promise
We dream big for libraries and think that with the council’s leadership, we can reach that point.
In camaraderie,
NYC PLAN
Uncommitted councilmembers
| District | Councilmember (emails are in the other tabs) | Email address | Phone number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Speaker Julie Menin * | SpeakerMenin@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7210 |
| 7 | Majority Leader Shaun Abreu * | District7@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7007 |
| 9 | Yusef Salaam | District9@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7397 |
| 11 | Eric Dinowitz | Dinowitz@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7080 |
| 12 | Kevin Riley | District12@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-6873 |
| 20 | Sandra Ung | District20@council.nyc.gov | 718-888-8747 |
| 23 | Linda Lee | District23@council.nyc.gov | 212-608-6382 |
| 25 | Shekar Krishnan | District25@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7066 |
| 27 | Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams | District27@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7084 |
| 30 | Phil Wong | District30@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7381 |
| 34 | Jennifer Gutiérrez | District34@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7095 |
| 35 | Crystal Hudson | District35@council.nyc.gov | 718-260-9191 |
| 42 | Chris Banks | District42@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-6957 |
| 43 | Susan Zhuang | District43@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7045 |
| 49 | Kamillah Hanks | District49@council.nyc.gov | 212-341-3045 |
| 50 | David Carr | DCarr@council.nyc.gov | 212-788-7390 |
Email to uncomitted councilmembers
Hello Councilmember ______________,
We are reaching out to you because of your role on the Budget Negotiating Team. At NYC PLAN (Public Library Action Network), we have campaigned for nearly 2 years to demand 0.5% of the overall city budget for the three public library systems. As we close in on an adopted budget this month, we are hopeful that you will keep this ask in mind and help advocate on the behalf of patrons and library workers alike.
We know that you are juggling many funding demands, but for us this is so critical because libraries are one of the last remaining public goods in our city. Libraries represent one of the only resources in this city that are truly accessible and free to every New Yorker no matter your immigration status, income, housing status, religion, etc. Losing spaces like this would be dire for New York’s future and securing stable funding is critical in preventing that.
As a reminder of where we are: in Mayor Mamdani’s executive budget last month, he proposed $526 million for libraries, which translates to 0.42%. We are grateful that number came up since the preliminary budget, but we are still $97 million short of the 0.5% that he promised during his campaign (which would be $623 million). We still have a ways to go. Our press release on this budget can be found here:
Gothamist article – The radical readers sick of settling for low library funding
The City article – Librarians, kids throw the book at Mamdani over broken funding promise
We dream big for libraries and think that with the council’s leadership, we can reach that point.
In camaraderie,
NYC PLAN