Participatory Budgeting (PB) is described as a different way to manage public funds and engage citizens in government. Through participatory budgeting, community members make decisions about how to spend part of a public budget.
As described in The New Deciders, Participatory Budgeting has been implemented in Greensboro, North Carolina where community members from all five City Council districts decide how to spend $500,000; $100,000 per district. The process works like this:
In 2016 Greensboro residents are making decisions about capital projects such as:
– Improvements to public playgrounds and parks
– Repairing streets and sidewalks
– Installing accessibility ramps on public property
– Renovating public buildings
– Installing benches or street lights
– Resurfacing a basketball court
The first PB project was implemented in the U. S. in Chicago, Illinois in 2009. Currently, residents of three Chicago Wards decide how to spend $3 million of taxpayer dollars annually.
Participatory Budgeting was first developed in Brazil in 1989. Now there are over 1,500 participatory budget projects around the world. Here’s a link to a map that shows all the locations where Participatory Budgeting has been implemented.
For more information on Participatory Budgeting: info@participatorybudgeting.org
For information on how to start a Participatory Budgeting Project, click here.
