CitizenLab's Blog
  • Platform
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Guides
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule a demo
  • English
  • Home
  • >
  • 🏛️ Blog
  • >
  • The educational power of participatory budgeting: 6 key takeaways

The educational power of participatory budgeting: 6 key takeaways

By Vanja Pantic Civic Engagement 02/03/2021
CitizenLab's Blog
  • Platform
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Guides
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule a demo
  • English

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process through which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. While PB may have started over 30 years ago, the first PB project didn’t launch in the U.S. until 2009 when Chicago became the first city in the country to try it. Since then, the practice has spread to hundreds of cities nationwide!

Our recent webinar on the educational power of PB featured Thea Crum, Director of the Neighborhoods Initiative at UIC Great Cities Institute, and Drew Brown, an independent PB evaluation expert. Both Thea and Drew have led PB projects with young people, from rural communities in Colorado to dozens of schools in Chicago, and something they kept coming back to throughout the webinar was the immense potential of PB to give power back to the community through inclusive decision-making. 

Here are 6 ways to harness the power of participatory budgeting:  

1. Process over $$$: It’s the process, not the total dollar value of the budget, that matters when setting up or scaling up your PB projects. In order to weigh in on a budget, community members must come together and deliberate on the local issues that matter most to them. PB represents a unique example of learning by doing; it gives all residents the chance to learn how local decisions are made by directly inserting themselves into the process. 

2. Teach community engagement: A PB process provides a unique educational experience on how local government works by putting real responsibility in the hands of the community. We can all benefit from growing our civic muscles – whether that means launching a PB project in a school to get youth civically engaged from an early age, or with the wider community to continue nurturing engagement by building trust. 

3. Be inclusive of diverse perspectives: This isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do. Both Thea and Drew underscored the fact that young people experience and engage with their cities differently than adults. For instance, youth are more likely to get around on foot and can bring unique perspectives to current conversations around smart streets, mobility, and public transportation. The same is true for other groups in your community – after all, residents are a city’s eyes and ears on the ground, and they can help build better futures if they have ways to participate.

4. Meet people where they are: PB can happen in person and online, and it’s often best to incorporate elements of both to be inclusive. Cities have used a variety of ways to bring PB to people, such as phone banking or pop-up voting at transit stations and grocery stores. For instance, The City of Lancaster incorporated traditional engagement by distributing printed voting materials through local businesses and the housing authority to reach groups such as resettled refugees and elderly residents. 

5. Build stakeholder buy-in: This includes fostering relationships with community groups as well as different departments or political leadership. It’s vital to engage local leaders who can contextualize your work – for instance, Drew mentioned a food coalition’s PB project in Southwest Colorado needing to adjust their eligibility rules post-launch. One specification was having a child in a county school, but their county was adjacent to tribal nations where grandparents were caregivers just as often as parents, and they wanted a vote in their student’s future. The project’s rules pivoted based on the advice of community leaders who localized needs.

6. Be open to iteration: PB is also a learning experience for those running it! Your first PB won’t be perfect, but that’s okay so long as you can learn and improve with each new cycle. Don’t be afraid to start small so you can give yourself time to properly set expectations, bring people along in the process, and quickly identify any existing gaps or critical priorities that need to be addressed. 

Want to know more about participatory budgeting? We wrote a helpful guide to walk you through the process.

You May Also Like

Civic Engagement 4 days ago
3 things an online survey can and can’t do
person using a laptop
Civic Engagement 12/08/2022
How can cities tell their stories for higher community engagement?
Person using the CitizenLab platform on their laptop
Civic Engagement 04/08/2022
Mid-year CitizenLab update: the solutions we have released so far
Community of people sitting together in a circle
Civic Engagement 03/08/2022
Building CitizenLab’s Community of Practice
SocialMedia
Civic Engagement 01/08/2022
4 reasons why social media isn’t enough for community engagement
Written By
Vanja Pantic

She/her. Senior Content Strategist at CitizenLab. Social impact enthusiast and systems change champion.

Solutions
  • All solutions
  • Strategy & Budgeting
  • Planning & Public Spaces
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Mobility & Infrastructure
  • Neighborhoods & Community Development
Platform
  • Platform features
  • Services
  • Plans
  • Schedule a demo
Academy
  • Resources
  • Blog
Company
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Partners
Get in touch
  • +44 79 2676 4670
  • +1 530 270 3403
  • Contact form
Blog
3 things an online survey can and can’t do
How can cities tell their stories for higher community engagement?
Mid-year CitizenLab update: the solutions we have released so far
© 2022 CitizenLab: Community Engagement Platform. All rights reserved.
By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
geot_rocket_citysessionNo description available.
geot_rocket_countrysessionNo description available.
geot_rocket_statesessionNo description available.
PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
STYXKEY_geot_countrysessionNo description
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
bcookie2 yearsLinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID.
langsessionLinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting.
lidc1 dayLinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_gat_gtag_UA_65562281_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
undefinedneverWistia sets this cookie to collect data on visitor interaction with the website's video-content, to make the website's video-content more relevant for the visitor.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextIdneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requestsneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
intercom-id-p4lr69wg8 months 26 days 1 hourNo description
intercom-session-p4lr69wg7 daysNo description
loglevelneverNo description available.
trx_addons_is_retina1 yearThis cookie is used for checking if the user has a retina display.
wp-wpml_current_languagesessionNo description available.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
AMP_TOKEN1 hourThis cookie is set by Google Analytics and contains a token that can be used to retrieve a Client ID from AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate opt-out, inflight request or an error retrieving a Client ID from AMP Client ID service.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo

Please share your location to continue.

Check our help guide for more info.

share your location