PB Buzz: Improving Participatory Democracy with New Technology
PBP Director Josh Lerner recently said, ”democracy has become the political version of kale; almost everyone says it’s good, but few want to eat it.” Following that notion, there’s been a lot of buzz recently about the potential for new technology to make participatory democracy more palatable–something more like kale chips, one might […]
PB for smaller cities: Dieppe, Canada
Earlier this month, the city of Dieppe in Southern New Brunswick, Canada, announced that it would be utilizing participatory budgeting to strengthen its community and better direct its public funds. We are excited to be working with the city to develop new modes of PB for smaller cities and towns across North America. The 23,000 residents of […]
Democratizing Schools with Participatory Budgeting (June 4th Webinar)
WEBINAR: Democratizing Schools with Participatory Budgeting Date: Thursday, June 4, 2015 Time: 11am – 12pm (PST) Download the webinar slides [PDF] Schools and school districts operate large and complex budgets – often with minimal participation from the community members and youth they work to serve. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Join […]
All for Data, Data for All: Supporting PB with Community Data
Participatory budgeting (PB) puts decision-making power into the hands of community members, and all decision-makers need access to good data. PB participants increasingly use data about their cities and neighborhoods to research needs, develop projects, and make informed, equitable spending decisions. Maps, for example. Through PB, volunteers, often called budget delegates, meet in small committees […]
Learning Democracy by Doing – Participatory Budgeting in Schools
With the amount of time students spend in school, nearly 1000 hours per year, it’s surprising how little say they have in their schools’ priorities. What if a school gave its students more choice in their education? What if it gave young people the ability to make collective decisions, while promoting youth leadership and teamwork? […]
Three Ways Deeper Engagement Improves the Relationship Between Officials and Residents
This post was written by Allison Rizzolo and originally appeared in On the Agenda, the Public Agenda Blog on December 4, 2014. Our local public officials are thirsty for better and deeper ways to engage the people they serve. This is a sentiment I heard again and again during last month’s National League of […]
Research, evaluation, and beyond: thinking big and small at the 2014 PB Conference
Who participates? How do cities compare? How can we make PB better? This year’s PB conference brought together a diverse and passionate group of people to put their questions down on paper. “Research Priorities: Evaluation and Beyond,” was a brainstorming session to inform the work of the North American PB Research Board. The board wanted […]
New Open-Source Tool for Mapping Community Needs
With the Shareabouts platform – an open source tool for collecting ideas from the public on an intuitive, user-friendly map – residents in New York City and Long Beach have the opportunity to propose PB project ideas online. At PBP, we believe that digital technology, like Shareabouts, can complement face-to-face meetings, reduce administrative burdens on […]
4 ways to make PB bigger and better
From September 25th-27th, more than 230 practitioners, researchers, organizers, and experts came together in Oakland and Vallejo to learn from each other about how to start more – and improve existing – PB processes as part of the 3rd International Conference on Participatory Budgeting in North America (#PBConf). We believe that we can get to […]
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and New York City Council Announce Expansion of Participatory Budgeting for 2014-2015 Cycle
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** July 23, 2014 22 districts will participate in next cycle to designate over $25 million City Hall—Today, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the New York City Council announced the expansion of participatory budgeting to 22 districts that will designate over $25 million toward […]