In 2009, my belief in government’s ability to represent, protect and serve me was at an all time low. The Great Recession and the Housing Bubble Burst of 2008 had hit my community hard. Through no fault of my own, I found myself in a daily struggle keep myself and my neighbors in our homes. It was my first experience looking to government for solutions and I found none.
Then, I was introduced to participatory budgeting and realized that I could be part of creating solutions; I could be a part of government. I started off as a community volunteer and today am co-chair of Chicago’s Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee.
Please join me and our leaders in Chicago in improving our cities and developing more community leaders, by supporting the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) – the only organization in North America whose sole focus is advancing participatory budgeting.
Donations over the past year enabled us to work with dozens of partners to engage 23,000 people in deciding how to spend $18 million on community improvements. This year PBP supported the start of 20 new PB processes in cities like San Juan, Phoenix and Halifax. And more and more community members — voters, electeds, those who are excluded from normal elections and their allies — are looking to participatory budgeting as a model for transforming citizen-government relations.
With your support, PBP can take this movement to the next level. Help PBP continue transforming our democracy by making a donation at the level you can afford – $25, $50, $100, $500 or more. Even better,double the impact of your gift through matching funds today on Giving Tuesday.
In the spirit of participatory budgeting, PBP donors help decide how to use contributions — make a donation and this Spring you can vote on how the donations are spent, through PBP’s own participatory budgeting process, PB2.
We can’t transform our democracy and develop more community leaders without you. Please make a gift to PBP for Giving Tuesday.
Thank you!
Maria Hadden
PBP Project Manager
PB Chicago Steering Committee Co-Chair
P.S. Please make a Giving Tuesday donation now by sending PBP a check OR donate online this Tuesday.