By combining the Participatory Budgeting experience of voting on the use of public funds with the Citizens’ Assembly experience of deliberating rather than expressing opinions, we have a potentially powerful new democratic mechanism to define community desired service outputs/outcomes, and to allocate public funds to achieve those outputs/outcomes.
By involving community leaders in decision-making, health officials in Alameda County, CA, were able to build trusting relationships with vulnerable populations. Among the results were lower than average death rates and higher than average rates of vaccination.
Many of our communities are experiencing tug of wars, civic paralyses, and political stalemates over critically important decisions with incredible consequences for our collective future. We need to reconsider how we approach our public dialogue about community change.
There is a growing excitement in the democracy field about the potential of citizens’ assemblies and the use of “mini-publics” to deliberate on important public issues. What could proponents of this innovative practice learn from the 30-year history of participatory budgeting?
His two terms as mayor were notable for Louisville’s success in attracting jobs and launching innovative initiatives to promote higher education opportunities and provide affordable housing for residents. But his tenure was also punctuated by tragedy and hardship with the onslaught of the COVID pandemic and a controversial police shooting.
Throughout U.S. history, young people have faced systematic exclusion from the political process. To tackle this issue, we need to confront the reality that young people are not uninterested, but disenfranchised, and start acknowledging how past and present government policy negatively affects their participation in elections.
A health equity group and a respected research firm conducted 1,304 online interviews in the summer of 2023 to gauge whether the country is as divided as it seems. The poll results were surprising in these troubled times. They provide a reality check on the perception of widespread backlash against efforts to achieve racial and gender justice.
To address financial sustainability and counteract public skepticism about the press’ objectivity, some news platforms are experimenting with new technologies like Blockchain, and leaning on public engagement, particularly dialogue and listening campaigns.
With a practice known as “Legislative Theatre,” communities who are directly impacted by oppressive policies and systems devise a play that frames those problems through their lived experience and perform it for audiences of peers, neighbors, advocates, and policymakers. Then, those audiences act onstage to rehearse ways to confront the problems presented and test new policies in real time.
