We’re thrilled to announce that The White House is joining us in promoting participatory budgeting! As part of its new Open Government National Action Plan, The White House has committed to work with key partners to increase awareness about PB and to support communities that are interested in launching PB processes. We’ve had great discussions with the White House in the weeks leading up to this announcement, and we’re excited about continued collaboration! Stay tuned for more updates.

Here’s the text on PB from the National Action Plan:

Promote Public Participation in Community Spending Decisions
Participatory budgeting allows citizens to play a key role in identifying, discussing, and prioritizing public spending projects, and gives them a voice in how taxpayer dollars are spent. Several communities around the country, such as Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Vallejo, already have had success in, or are currently planning, participatory budgeting processes to help determine local budgeting priorities. One way participatory budgeting can be utilized by cities is through eligible Department of Housing and Urban Development Housing and Community Development funds, which can be used to promote affordable housing, provide services to the most vulnerable citizens, and create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. In 2014, the Administration will work in collaboration with the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative (SC2), the National League of Cities, non-profit organizations, philanthropies, and interested cities to: create tools and best practices that communities can use to implement projects; raise awareness among other American communities that participatory budgeting can be used to help determine local investment priorities; and help educate communities on participatory budgeting and its benefits.