Boston residents deliver roughly 500 postcards to Mayor Wu urging her to dedicate 1% of Boston's budget to a new democratic approach called participatory budgeting.
CONTACT: Helen "Homefries" Matthews, Better Budget Alliance, homefries@economicdemocracy.us, 617-784-1731
BOSTON, MA - As Mayor Wu prepares to unveil her proposal for the City's FY25 budget next week, local residents are urging her to dedicate 1% of the multi-billion-dollar pot to the City's new, democratic process known as participatory budgeting.
Scheduled for a public rollout this summer, participatory budgeting in Boston will empower residents to directly propose and vote on how to best spend a portion of public funds. However, the specific size of this budgetary allocation remains undecided.
On April 3rd, the Better Budget Alliance - a city-wide coalition of 30+ community-based organizations - delivered roughly 500 postcards from residents to Mayor Wu calling for the 1% allocation to participatory budgeting, the equivalent of about $40 million dollars.
“True democracy requires a pathway for those most impacted to have decision-making power," read one resident's postcard to the mayor.
"We are the protagonists of the everyday things in our community, and that’s why we know what to do with the budget,” said Gloria Sanchez, an East Boston resident, while delivering postcards.
BOSTON, MA - As Mayor Wu prepares to unveil her proposal for the City's FY25 budget next week, local residents are urging her to dedicate 1% of the multi-billion-dollar pot to the City's new, democratic process known as participatory budgeting.
Scheduled for a public rollout this summer, participatory budgeting in Boston will empower residents to directly propose and vote on how to best spend a portion of public funds. However, the specific size of this budgetary allocation remains undecided.
On April 3rd, the Better Budget Alliance - a city-wide coalition of 30+ community-based organizations - delivered roughly 500 postcards from residents to Mayor Wu calling for the 1% allocation to participatory budgeting, the equivalent of about $40 million dollars.
“True democracy requires a pathway for those most impacted to have decision-making power," read one resident's postcard to the mayor.
"We are the protagonists of the everyday things in our community, and that’s why we know what to do with the budget,” said Gloria Sanchez, an East Boston resident, while delivering postcards.
Civic leaders Angel Howell of New England United for Justice and Eliza Parad of Center for Economic Democracy present an enlarged postcard asking Mayor Wu to invest in participatory budgeting.
Since spearheading an overwhelmingly successful ballot question in 2021 that mandated participatory budgeting in Boston, the coalition has continued to mobilize for democracy and justice in Boston's budget, focusing on working class Black, Brown and immigrant communities that have endured generations of underfunding and disinvestment.
Organizers say that allowing direct democracy over 1% of the budget will create a worthwhile opportunity for residents to improve their communities in substantial ways. In an eye-catching public letter to Mayor Wu from late March signed by 43 civic leaders, the coalition warned that dedicating less than 1% of the budget would result in "depressed engagement and turnout", leaving residents with little power to fund solutions to their communities' needs.
While the City expects lower revenues this coming fiscal year, Better Budget Alliance organizers say this heightens the importance of residents' participation in budgeting. The new process will give residents the chance to fund our communities' most vital needs in a moment of tightened purse strings, they say.
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Organizers say that allowing direct democracy over 1% of the budget will create a worthwhile opportunity for residents to improve their communities in substantial ways. In an eye-catching public letter to Mayor Wu from late March signed by 43 civic leaders, the coalition warned that dedicating less than 1% of the budget would result in "depressed engagement and turnout", leaving residents with little power to fund solutions to their communities' needs.
While the City expects lower revenues this coming fiscal year, Better Budget Alliance organizers say this heightens the importance of residents' participation in budgeting. The new process will give residents the chance to fund our communities' most vital needs in a moment of tightened purse strings, they say.
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