Sacramento launches Participatory Budget pilot with $1 million in Measure U funds

Sacramento (March 10, 2022) The City of Sacramento Thursday officially launched its participatory  budgeting program – a new grassroots spending approach adopted by a growing number of cities around the country. Residents of northern and southern portions of the city will get to directly decide how to spend $1 million that has been set aside from Measure U proceeds.

The idea germinated in 2020 when the City’s Measure U Community Advisory Committee asked the City Council to allocate funds from the Measure U sales tax to a participatory budgeting process.  In 2021, at the request of Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the City Council dedicated $1 million for the initial round. It authorized the Measure U Committee to lead the pilot cycle, which is supported by a non-profit organization called The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), which has helped run similar efforts around the nation.

Cities that have dedicated funds to Participatory Budgeting programs include Chicago, Vallejo, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

“The Sacramento Participatory Budgeting Project gives residents a real voice in spending public funds to benefit their communities and is an opportunity for the city to put their commitment to inclusion and engagement into action,” said Cathy Creswell, a member of the Measure U committee 

Mayor Steinberg joined Councilmembers Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang, along with members of the Measure U committee, to launch the effort Thursday.

“The idea behind the expanded Measure U approved by voters in 2018 was to put the dollars back to work to uplift neighborhoods that have too often been passed over for investment,” Mayor Steinberg said. “Now we are empowering residents of those neighborhoods to directly decide how City spending can best accomplish that goal.”

“This Participatory Budget Pilot is an opportunity to amplify the voices of our constituents and give power back to the people to make budget decisions that will impact their lives,” said Councilmember Vang. “The people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions, and I look forward to working with members of our Measure U Committee to ensure we uplift voices and perspectives often left behind in government.” 

“The City’s budget belongs to the people, so it only makes sense that we would let the people decide how to spend it,” said Councilmember Valenzuela. “I’m really excited to see this pilot move forward and can’t wait to see the lessons it will teach us – and to hopefully see this program expand in the future.”

The Committee decided to prioritize two geographic areas for this first process, in the northeastern and southeastern sections of the city. These areas were chosen based on tools developed to display economic disparities across Sacramento, including the new Sacramento Community Vulnerability Index developed by the City’s Office of Diversity & Equity. Residents of the focus areas will each decide how to spend half of the total funds, or $500,000.

Starting in April, residents will be invited to brainstorm and propose projects at idea collection events, online, and in idea boxes around the City. From late May through the end of July, volunteers will take these ideas and turn them into full proposals.

Then, in August, residents in the two designated areas will vote on which proposals to fund. To ensure that residents know about the process and how they can get involved, community-based organizations can receive up to $5,000 “mini-grants” to conduct outreach and engagement activities across the city and focus neighborhoods. The deadline to apply is March 18.

Learn more about how you can get submit ideas, support outreach or serve as a delegate by visiting https://www.cityofsacramento.org/pb.