Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. It gives people real power over real money.
Yet, how do we ensure that this novel power over budgets stays in community hands through an established new civic structure? And how can we work to make sure that civic structure is able to adapt to meet the changing needs of the community?
We institutionalize PB! NYC and Boston have taken the steps to add PB to their city charters and have created established governmental bodies to support regular PB processes across their cities.
During this insightful learning session, we explored two key strategies advocates and community members can use to achieve this: ballot initiatives and charter amendments. We were led by three outstanding panelists and PB advocates who are using these approaches to win PB. These included Molly Martin (People’s Budget Cleveland), Jim Labbe (PB Oregon), and Kathy Henriquez Perlera (Center for Economic Democracy).
They each shared on their campaigns, lessons from the field, and advice on how to start a campaign to institutionalize PB in your community. Watch the replay!
