"Between September 26 and 29, about two dozen people's budget organizers from around the nation joined over 100 activists at the Participatory Budgeting Project's conference " Our Time, Our Power: A Participatory Democracy Learning Exchange " in Orange, NJ, followed by continued conversations of shared lessons and next steps at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. I participated as a scholar focusing on local governance and as a volunteer researcher/collaborator with People's Plan NYC; here, I highlight some key themes from these gatherings."
"The movement for people's budgets has been building for a few years now. Between 2020 and 2022, active campaigns using the term "people's budget" emerged, without central coordination, in cities around the country-and not just in large, coastal ones like Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. Grassroots groups and coalitions also fought for people's budgets in Birmingham, AL; Norman, OK; Washtenaw County, MI; Sacramento, CA; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; and Cleveland, OH."
Federal layoffs reveal that public budgets are moral documents exposing collective priorities and civic health or failure. People's budget coalitions, working largely at the city level, advocate for budgets that meet community needs and demonstrate that austerity is a political choice. Organizers gathered at a Participatory Budgeting Project conference in Orange, NJ, followed by meetings at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, to share lessons and next steps. The movement grew between 2020 and 2022 with decentralized campaigns using the "people's budget" label across diverse U.S. cities, sometimes under names like solidarity budgets.
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