Participatory budgeting - what is it and why is it relevant to Bedford Rotary?

 

In the Spring of '24 at Tufts, with group members in her Solidarity Economics course, Katherine participated in a semester-long project supporting a non-profit's evaluation of Boston's pilot Participatory Budgeting process. 

 

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. It gives people real power over real money- because community members are experts!

 

So...why is this relevant to Bedford Rotary you ask? We are all individuals living in a community with thoughts and ideas on ways to improve it. The trick is, that even stellar local governments can't read our minds on how we'd like our budgets spent, and town meetings only reach a small amount of the total population. PB is spreading quickly; processes have popped up in cities and towns like Lexington, Cambridge, Sommerville, and more. 

 

You'll have an opportunity to understand the driving goals behind the movement, the process basics on how community input is collected, and get to discuss the sorts of improvements you would advocate for in your home town.