In early May, citizens from across our city heard exciting presentations about a method of public budgeting taking hold in the United States and around the world Participatory budgeting (PB) allows ordinary citizens direct control over how to spend a meaningful portion of their tax dollars in their communities. One Chicago district just completed its second successful participatory budgeting cycle, with more than a thousand people deciding how to spend over $1 million dollars on community-based projects! Similar efforts are getting underway in New York City and Springfield, Massachusetts.
The feedback we got in both presentations was overwhelmingly positive. Folks are ready to move from learning about participatory budgeting in other cities to figuring out how to make it a reality in our town. Please join us for an information and brainstorming session on how to bring participatory budgeting to Greensboro, North Carolina!
On June 14th, from 6 to 8 pm, we will meet in the Nussbaum Room at Greensboro’s Central Library. After a short introductory (or refresher) presentation on participatory budgeting, we’ll brainstorm together and build a strategy to bring participatory budgeting to Greensboro. Bring your energy and ideas to help build momentum around this exciting and timely project!
If you were unable to attend the PB presentations in May, that’s ok! We’ll go over participatory budgeting basics and have educational material available. If you attended those early events and felt excited about this project, bring your friends and/or forward this email to them.