This summer, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced that participatory budgeting is expanding to 23 city districts, empowering residents to designate over $25 million dollars to locally developed projects. PBP has been busy training district staff, facilitators, and volunteers to scale up this model PB process – the largest in the US. Public assemblies are already starting around the city. See if your district is participating here, and join us at an assembly to learn more and get involved! New Faces at PBPInterest in PB has been exploding in recent years, and PBP is growing rapidly to turn this political opening into a powerful movement to transform democracy. This fall we are adding six new staff thanks to generous support from individual donors and foundations, especially a new grant from the Democracy Fund. Please welcome on board:
Read more about our new staff here, and apply for a spring internship or volunteer position to join our team! 3rd International Conference on Participatory BudgetingOn September 25-27, over 200 organizers, officials, planners, and researchers will be convening at our PB Conference in California. Speakers from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Senegal, Australia, Canada, and across the United States will share a wide breadth of research and experience, and engage participants in workshops and discussion. If you’re planning to join us, make sure to register by Friday to reserve your spot – space is limited! If you can’t join us in Oakland and Vallejo, join the conversation on Twitter using #PBConf and by following @PBProject. Or make a donation to sponsor a low-income or youth participant, to help make the conference more accessible! For information about the schedule and more, visit www.pbconference.org. Charting a New Path for PB in Buffalo
PBP is supporting the Buffalo Common Council and the Clean Air Coalition of WNY in piloting a new approach for starting PB. This July, Buffalo’s Common Council voted unanimously to establish a PB Committee, tasked with developing a proposal for implementing PB. After years of building support for PB with local community groups and officials, we visited Buffalo this month to launch the new PB Committee. Already, the committee has identified 24 potential pots of money for PB. We’ll continue supporting the committee as it develops its report for Council, due by March 2015. Upcoming Events
Talks and Trainings by PBP Staff:
Let us know if you want us to come to your city! |
Get Involved with PBP and help the movement that is making an impact on communities around the world!1. Spread the Word 2. Donate 3. Volunteer 4. Organize Featured BookExecutive Director, Josh Lerner, recently published Making Democracy Fun, on MIT Press. The book explores how good game design can animate community meetings and democratic processes, through competition, collaboration, clear rules, engaging sounds and visuals, and other game mechanics. He writes from over a decade of practice and research, to show how local governments and organizations can make democracy work by making it fun. We Want to Hear from You!Do you have questions about PB? What do you want to know? Contact us and let us hear your ideas! PBP gearPBP T-Shirts, Postcards, Magnets, and Stickers! |