What is Participatory Budgeting?

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a way for people to collectively decide how government money is spent. Community members come up with ideas, turn them into real proposals, and vote on which ones get funded.

PB started in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989 as a way to fight poverty and involve more people in government decisions. Since then, it has been used more than 11,600 times around the world — in cities, schools, and other places.

Participatory Budgeting and the Civic Engagement Commission:

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. This program is called The People’s Money. You can read more about this in Chapter 76 of the NYC Charter.

In September 2022, the CEC launched the first cycle of The People’s Money. We worked with 82 community organizations to help people across the city take part. Thousands of New Yorkers submitted ideas, developed ballots, and voted on which ideas should get funding. In the end, 46 projects were funded with a total of $5 million. Many focused on youth programs and mental health support — the issues most important to the community.

Civic Assemblies

One thing that makes The People's Money unique is its use of civic assemblies in the Borough Assemblies phase of the process. A civic assembly is a group of everyday people chosen at random to discuss important public issues. They meet to talk through challenges and then give their recommendations to the government. This process is designed to give residents a more direct way to influence government decisions in their communities.

Participatory Budgeting in NYC Today:

New York City has three PB programs that give residents the power to make decisions about public money:

•  The People’s Money – A citywide program run by the CEC. All New Yorkers ages 11 and older can take part — regardless of immigration status or incarceration status.
•  PBNYC – A local program run by the City Council in certain districts. Residents vote on how to spend part of their Council Member’s budget.
•  Civics for All – A program from the Department of Education that brings PB into some public schools. Students get to vote on projects that improve their schools.
•  Office of Neighborhood Safety - A program organized to give NYCHA residents power to imagine and create new ways of keeping their communities safe. This is specific to NYCHA developments under the "Mayoral Action Plan"

These programs give people a real voice in how money is spent to support their neighborhoods and communities.