Lessons and OpEd
The time is now – we must divest from police, and invest in communities
Honestly – we are all feeling tired and heavy. Today, we honor and mourn the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed and other countless Black lives we have lost to racist police violence and murder. We say their names, raise our voices to condemn state sanctioned murder, and we…
Read MoreUnleashing Student Power: PB in Colleges and Universities
Unleashing Student Power in Colleges and Universities By: Eric Billbrough Special thanks to Salvator Asaro, Alexander Kolokotronis, Jenni Innes, William Novello, Michael Menser, and Jacob Klipstein for sharing their experiences with PB and student government at their colleges and for their continued efforts to organize for more democratic campuses. As summer comes to a close,…
Read MoreNew Studies: PB Increases Tax Revenue as it Grows the Number of Voices in Government
A new World Bank working paper by Michael Touchton, Brian Wampler, and Tiago Peixoto finds that PB and participatory institutions actually improve government balance sheets by boosting residents’ willingness to pay taxes.
Read MoreHow to make evaluations awesome and meaningful
While evaluations are an optional part of the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process, they are well worth the time and energy required to conduct them. Christine Paulin, professor at the Université de Moncton, and Jake Carlson, PBP Research Fellow, led a PB Network Study Session to share their insights on PB evaluations. See more below for…
Read MoreHow to Make Civic Data Work for You
Good data is being used to make better participatory budgeting (PB). In Greensboro, they’ve used the previous cycle’s data to set goals and to figure out where to direct outreach to maximize participation – particularly of underrepresented populations. Research from the New York PB Research Board and the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice…
Read MoreWelcome back-to-school-PB!
Today’s lesson: How to learn democracy by doing democracy As schools reconvene from summer break, more and more are empowering students to directly decide how to spend a portion of their school budget through participatory budgeting (PB). One of the best ways to teach democracy is by doing real democracy; PB in schools does exactly…
Read MorePBP News: Tools, Trainings, Tactics to rebuild democracy
Get these updates in your inbox: Sign up for our newsletter Summer is a time for getting out of your house and spending time in your neighborhood; participatory budgeting (PB) helps connect your community to make your spaces BETTER. You’re an expert in where you live, and you know what it takes to improve the public…
Read MoreExpanding the imagination of democracy: PB in Paris
In 2014, the City of Paris started the world’s largest participatory budget (PB). It began as a test-run a few months after Mayor Anne Hidalgo was elected – citizens could vote on how to spend €20 million on 15 possible projects identified by the city. A few months later they began a full-scale PB, with…
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