You are reading

Applications to Serve on a Queens Community Board Are Now Open

Queens Community Board 1 in Astoria (Photo: Queens Post)

Jan. 4, 2023, By Carlotta Mohamed

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is currently accepting online applications from qualified and civic-minded individuals who are interested in serving on their local community board.

As with Richards’ prior two iterations, the 2023 community board application can be filled out online, ensuring prospective applicants can complete the process quickly and easily, allowing for a more diverse applicant pool. The application requires neither notarization nor in-person delivery to the Queens borough president’s office.

The application is available online here and at queensbp.org/communityboards.

The deadline to submit the form is Thursday, Feb. 16. This deadline applies to both new applicants and existing community board members seeking an additional term. For the upcoming round of appointments, the two-year term of service will begin on Saturday, April 1.

“Government is at its most effective and impactful when people who come from and understand the needs of the communities it is sworn to serve are in positions of leadership. That’s what we’re actively working to create here in Queens with our 14 community boards,” Richards said. “I look forward to building on the progress we’ve made to diversify and strengthen our boards over the last two years, and I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in public service to apply over the next six weeks.”

Over the course of his administration, Richards has worked diligently to grow interest in community board membership and address numerous demographic inequities around age, gender, background and more that have existed for years across Queens’ 14 community boards.

Community Board districts in Queens (Source: Queens Borough President’s office)

Combining the 2021 and 2022 community board processes, the Queens borough president’s office received a whopping 1,825 applications to serve on a community board, with both years shattering the pre-Richards single-year record for applications. The larger and more diverse applicant pools led to community board classes that were younger, more female and had greater percentages of members who identified as Latinx/Hispanic, African American, immigrant, South Asian, East Asian/Pacific Islander and LGBTQIA+, among other characteristics.

There are 59 community boards citywide, including 14 in Queens, and each hold monthly full membership meetings. The boards play an important advisory role in considering land use and zoning matters in their respective districts under the City’s Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure, in addition to holding hearings and issuing recommendations about the city budget, municipal service delivery and numerous other matters that impact their communities.

All Queens community board members are appointed by the Queens borough president, pursuant to the City Charter, with half of the appointments nominated by the City Council members representing their respective Community Districts. Each board has up to 50 unsalaried members, with each member serving a two-year term. All community board members who wish to continue serving on a board are required to reapply at the conclusion of their two-year term and are subject to review and reconsideration.

This story was originally published by QNS

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Southeast Queens leaders endorse Mark Levine for NYC comptroller

Apr. 17, 2025 By Athena Dawson

Cook cited Levine’s experience and problem-solving skills as a reason for her vote of confidence. “Mark is the clear choice to be our City’s next comptroller, and I am proud to back him today and every day. He has the experience and creative problem-solving skills to tackle some of our city’s most pressing issues while protecting New Yorkers from the dangers of Trump and the federal government,”  she shared in a statement. 

Op-ed: The power of representation in healthcare

Apr. 17, 2025 By Dr. Ifeanyi Oguagha

As physicians of color at Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (JPAFHC), we regularly witness how representation in healthcare can save lives. Our patients – who, like us, are predominantly people of color – walk through our doors not only with medical concerns but also often carrying the weight of generations of inequities that have shaped their health outcomes.