New York gears up for another year of participatory budgeting
New York is a flagship city within the international calender of Participatory Budgeting. Every years millions of dollars are being distributed. While PB in individual boroughs have been running for many years, this week, as reported in the Bronx Daily: “the New York City Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) formally kicked off the next phase of The People’s Money, the city’s participatory budgeting program, an initiative that hands real decision making power directly to residents as it enters its fourth cycle.”
Participatory budgeting has gained traction in the United States since the pioneering pilots in New York City in 2012-2013. While the concept originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1989, its adaptation and implementation in the U.S. context have evolved, reflecting the local political structures and community dynamics.
However, earlier New York PB’s suffered from some limitations. So the process has be partly rebranded as the People Money, with additional features, such as lowering the voting age from 18 to 11 years, instituting randomly selected design committees on the principle of ‘Sortition’ and joining up the previous individual capital funding initiatives led by individual elected officials.
NYC’s Participatory Budgeting: The People’s Money Initiative aims to empower residents in budget decisions. By engaging 82 community partners, translating ballots into 12 languages, and allocating $5 million, it fosters transparency and community cohesion. The People’s Money initiative illustrates how innovative approaches to citizen engagement can revolutionize traditional governance structures and empower communities through participatory democracy.
In November 2018, almost one million New Yorkers voted to create the Civic Engagement Commission (CEC). This vote gave the CEC the job of running a citywide participatory budgeting process every year, using Expense Budget Funding from the Mayor’s Office.
But alongside the $4m citywide process much more is available. This year, 23 Council Members across New York City are asking residents how to spend at least $23 million in capital funding, specifically for local improvements to schools, parks, libraries and other public spaces. PBNYC funds physical infrastructure projects in public spaces, which cost at least $50,000 and have a lifespan of at least 5 years.
Through a combination of strategic planning, community outreach, and robust participation mechanisms, the initiative successfully navigated its challenges and obstacles to effectively engage a diverse range of residents in budgetary decision-making.
Read more on the launch of the 2026 ideas generation cycle in the Bronx Daily report
Go to the New York City Council’s PB pages
Go to the website dedicated to the citywide CEC People’s Money programme
Read a case study on New Yorks participatory budgets on the Participedia website, from which some of this article’s content is taken.