What is participatory budgeting?

 Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process by which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget.
 PB gives neighborhood residents and stakeholders
​real decision-making power over real money.

Goals of PB Chicago

EQUITY
We strive for our process to be fair and just, both in the distribution of funds to the areas of most need and in the participation of community members. A focus on equitable participation and working harder to engage the most marginalized populations will lead to a more diverse, representative process.

INCLUSION
We strive to include the entire community — especially those residents who are often excluded from the political process, who face obstacles to participating, or who may feel disillusioned with politics. By making every effort to actively engage the whole community and reduce obstacles to participation, we hope to reduce the influence of groups with more resources from dominating the decision-making process and to encourage spending decisions that better reflect the entire community’s needs.

COMMUNITY & COALITION BUILDING
We work to strengthen our communities and the individuals who call them home through outreach, education, dialogue, and civic engagement. This process is designed to bring us all of us together to make better budget decisions. Working together to identify needs, learn about our available resources, and share solutions not only connects individuals to one another, but also creates collaboration across blocks, neighborhoods, and organizations — inspiring people to work together to improve the community.

SUSTAINABILITY
We aim to maintain sustainability. Healthy democratic processes require renewal and support for the individuals participating. Through training and workshops as well as expert support, we provide tools and space to allow communities to develop sustainable projects and to support existing leaders and cultivate new ones. Our processes provide space for new and existing community leaders to learn and practice skills, build relationships, and work together to find sustainable solutions to address community needs.

The PB process was first implemented in Brazil in 1989, and today there are over 1,500 participatory budgets around the world. While participatory budgeting can be applied to any pot of money, it is most often used at the city level, for municipal budgets. PB has also been used for county, state, housing authority, school and school system, university, coalition, and other public agency funds.

Although each PB experience is different, most follow a similar basic process:
  • Stakeholders brainstorm spending ideas
  • Volunteer community representatives develop proposals based on these ideas and determine final ballot items
  • Project expos are held to showcase ballot items
  • Residents or members vote on proposals
  • The governing body implements the winning projects

​For example, if community members identify recreation spaces as a priority, they will submit an idea for a project, such as a basketball court.  Community representatives will work with city agencies to determine the feasibility and cost of the court.  After weighing the needs and feasibility of all project ideas, community representatives will determine which ideas will make the final ballot.  Residents vote on which projects are most important to them and the highest vote-getters are selected, starting with the most popular project and working down the list until the pool or money is exhausted.  If the basketball court is among those projects then it is submitted to the government for implementation.