Well done, PB Chicago! Evaluation report for cycle 2

PB Chicago is going from strength to strength. Researchers from the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois-Chicago have found strong reasons to support the continued expansion of PB in the city. Three wards participated in the second year of the process (2013-2014), and residents worked hard to ensure that their PB process realized three overarching goals: equity, inclusion, and community building.

PB Chicago by numbers:

698 residents attended brainstorming sessions, identifying over 775 capital needs in their communities.
Over 260 community residents including 48 youth volunteered to research and develop project proposals for the public vote.
2,574 Chicago residents from the three wards turned out to vote on how their public infrastructure dollars should be spent.
21 community projects won the vote, totaling $4 million.

The key findings:

More people of color, low-income individuals, and youth participated compared to the previous year’s cycle (2012-2013).
There was high participation by the wards’ youth, with approximately 30% of 22nd Ward PB voters and 10% of 49th and 45th Ward PB voters under the age of 18.
Over $1.6 million in additional funding, beyond the PB budget, was leveraged for community projects identified through the PB process. That’s a 40% increase in the capital works money coming into the participating wards, thanks to PB!