PB Around the World: A Brief History of International Participatory Budgeting Processes

For five years, residents of District 39 have known what is now known by residents of 27 districts citywide, several cities in both the United States and Canada, across Latin America, Africa, and Australia: Participatory budgeting is an unrivaled method of empowering communities, giving residents the opportunity to collectively decide how to spend public funds.

In 2005, a coalition of PB activists and researchers from the US and Canada began to organize and hold conference sessions and workshops, publish informational writing on the PB process, and spread the word about PB.  In 2009, the group established the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), a non-profit organization whose goal has been to encourage small communities and cities to try their hands at PB.  Their goal was first realized that year when Chicago Alderman Joe Moore became the nation’s first elected official to use PB, designating over $1 million of his ward’s discretionary funds for the cause. Soon afterwards, the PB process was implemented in Toronto, and in 2011, was implemented in New York City. Since then, districts of San Francisco and St. Louis as well as the entire cities of Boston and Vallejo, California, have allocated money for PB:

City	Chicago, U.S.	Boston, U.S.	Vallejo, U.S.	Toronto, Canada
Amount ($) Allocated	$5 Million	$1 Million	$3.28 Million	$200,000
Past Projects	-sidewalk bump-outs to improve pedestrian safety -turf fields and playgrounds at local elementary schools -repaved streets -replanting over 110 streets	-20 surveillance cameras in a local park to increase security and protection -designated wall space for local graffiti artists to showcase their work -laptops for local schools	-community gardens developed offering nutritional education to kids -repaired lighting, flooring, and windows at a local senior center -low cost spaying and neutering procedures for pets	-adequate lighting for natural ice skating in local parks -painting of a mural on a bridge over a local highway -refurbishment of a bocce court in a local park

Other major cities participating in the PB process include:

Seville, Spain:

·         Seville is the largest European city with PB, having 20,000 participants and a $19 million annual allocation. Residents make decisions on nearly 50% of local spending in their city districts.

Durham, UK:

·         In Durham, the City Council has allocated £500,000 for its fourteen local engagement structures and held conferences regarding local priorities and the Council’s budget.

Porto Alegre, Brazil:

·         Porto Alegre became the first full city to institute a PB process in 1989. Today, around 50,000 vote annually in its PB process, deciding how to spend as much as 20% of the city’s entire budget.  

La Plata, Argentina:

·         In this city, up to 51,000 citizens gather in neighborhood assemblies to discuss their various needs and propose projects for the public to fund. Since 2008, over $10 million has been spent annually on the La Plata’s PB projects.

This map from PBP shows the locations of PB processes around the world.

With 51,000 voters and $32 million allocated in 2015, New York City has taken a leading role in advancing the progressive movement in discretionary funding.  In recent years, District 39 has become a PB trailblazer promoting equity and civic engagement throughout the city. 

Teen Teamwork: An Overview of the PB Youth Kickoff Meeting

    

The PB youth kickoff meeting took place at Du Jour in Park Slope, where a group of passionate teens from around District 39 gathered to learn about youth engagement in the PB process.

     This past Thursday afternoon, a group of 12 enthusiastic teens met at a local cafe to discuss the importance of participatory budgeting (PB) and the ways in which they could become involved. Enthusiastic and creative ideas were developed into sample project proposals within a mock PB process that allowed participants to gain a deeper understanding of the inspiring work that PB can produce. The teens thought about what types of projects would appeal to a broader range of district constituents and worked together in envisioning lasting, meaningful projects that would drive positive change in our District 39 community. 

The Meeting's Agenda:

     The meeting began with a presentation about the PB process that explained how PB worked, who was involved in PB, and the committees that often emerge throughout the PB cycle. Teens then adopted certain committees for the mock PB process in order to have a new perspective from which to propose a project. From there, it was all up to the imagination of the participants! Teen participant Isabella Rhodes says that she didn't realize the power youth hold to inspire change until she saw the enthusiasm and insight involved in the meeting's mock PB process.
     The teen education committee proposed technological upgrades and building renovations for a select under-resourced school, while the arts, culture, and community facilities committee encouraged the creation of a makerspace in district libraries complete with 3D printers and a mobile arts studio that would travel to schools throughout the district. Meanwhile, the streets and sidewalks committee proposed the winning project of the mock PB process: solar-paneled street lamps. An environmentally sustainable and inspiring idea, the solar-powered street lamps would save money for the district government by reducing electricity costs while promoting the use of clean energy for other districts. 

A Lasting Impression:

The participants in the meeting engaged in an open discussion about the meaning of the PB process and the primary goals behind it.

    From the sample projects developed in the committee, teens were able to clearly see the fundamental aim of PB: making ideal neighborhood improvements a reality. PB is an incredibly inclusive and open-ended process, allowing any district constituent to push for the change they want to see while uniting with others from different neighborhoods to achieve a common goal. Real PB committees don't come up with their ideas so quickly and have to take financial feasibility, popularity, and effectiveness into account when developing their top ideas, yet they strive to create inclusive and needed projects just as the teens at the meeting did.
    Kevin Manuele, a high school sophomore who attended the PB youth kickoff meeting, describes his understanding of the PB as a process as one that provides all district constituents with "the opportunity to participate in government and make sure their tax dollars go to things that they care about and [that] have an intrinsic effect on them and their community." Among other teens, Kevin focused on the environmental aspect of PB during his participation in the meeting, as well as on the importance of reaching an economically diverse constituency. Kevin explains how through PB, people can really see local democracy in action: "I realized [at the PB meeting] that real change starts on a small, local level and that the best way to improve the world is to do what you can with the resources available."
     High school student Isabella Rhodes states that learning about the PB process was "truly eye-opening." Despite not knowing much about PB prior to the event, she is now eager to be involved. Isabella says, "Coming to the PB meeting changed my perspective on the power and responsibility teens have in our community...By coming together, teens are capable of real change in local government, whether that's [by] improving the conditions of a public school or building a garden space for NYC kids."


Equity and PB:

     The relationship between PB and the idea of equity was an important topic that came up at the meeting. As teens discussed at the event, PB is meant to be a fair and impartial process that takes into account the needs and wants of a broad range of district constituents, as opposed to prioritizing neighborhoods that are more affluent or have more advocates involved in PB. 
     High school student Lara Schuman says that she learned a lot about the relationship between PB and equity in the meeting's discussion: "PB isn't for one person's benefit or for one group's benefit, it's for an entire community of people. And from there, [the ideas of PB] can spread so that everyone has the same opportunities."
     Lara adds that during the PB meeting, she learned that "you can really make a difference and [that] people do care about problems in schools and in the environment. People aren't overlooking these issues, they care about what's in their community and they want to make improvements. And we can do something about this as teens, we have a say in PB."