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Thursday, 8 February 2024
New Richmond People’s Budget ramping up
Richmond residents to propose, vote on, and approve $3 million in neighborhood capital projects across city
(Richmond, Virginia) – The Richmond Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission is ramping up efforts to start its new Richmond People’s Budget process.
Established by Richmond City Council in 2020, the Richmond Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission is leading a public process in which residents from across each district directly propose new projects and decide how to spend $3 million in public budget funding that had been established and set-aside for this purpose.https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4734598&GUID=5C1B5D7E-0255-4EFE-877C-A958602CB8BB&Options=ID|Text|&Search=participatory+budgeting
Since its creation, the Richmond Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission has worked diligently with the community over the last three years. Overcoming challenges COVID brought during that time, it has been deeply engaged in asking questions and learning from community groups, individuals, and experiences to create an inclusive, engaging, transparent, equitable, and capacity-building process on behalf of all Richmond residents. This work includes the tremendous partnership, insight, and expertise of Storefront for Community Design, a Richmond nonprofit, that has been instrumental in this effort.
As a critical first-step, the Commission created a Richmond People’s Budget Rulebook that provides a framework for collecting ideas and developing proposals, and then voting on which ones are most important to them.https://rvapb.org/rvapb-rulebook/
Timeline of key
waypoints:
·
Fall 2024: Community Brainstorming
·
Winter 2024: Community Develops Proposals
·
Spring 2025: Community Vote
· Summer 2025: Winning Projects are funded
Richmond Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission: Current
Members:
- Jerome Legions - 2nd District
- Aaron Linas - 6th District
- Erin Kelley - 4th District
- Abigail Delaney - 5th District
- Oludare Ogunde - 7th District
- Quawneisha Peoples - 8th District
- Shannon Wilson-Gonzalez - 8th
District
- Mary Gresham - 9th District
Former Members
-
Scott Castro - 1st District (former member)
-
Jeff Walker - 4th District (former member)
- Erica Sklar - 5th District (former member)
“Participatory Budgeting is a win-win for Richmond residents by empowering public involvement, learning, listening, and significantly increasing the representation and power of residents,” says Council President Kristen Nye, Councilmember, Richmond City Council, Richmond Southwest 4th Voter District. “The Richmond People’s Budget process actively and purposely puts city residents in the decision-making driver’s seat to influence the change they want to see in our city.”
“Participatory budgeting process is a new way for residents to really connect to their tax dollars and to talk about and help prioritize projects in our communities,” says Nye. “There are so many benefits to helping further democratize how we put money to work in our neighborhoods.”
“Establishing a Richmond People’s Budget is critical for our residents, to build and restore trust in local government. This is a great way to engage residents from every neighborhood to be empowered to make a difference where they live. Together, we can address and overcome decades of under-investment in our sidewalks, parks, and other infrastructure,” says Councilmember Andreas Addison, Richmond City Council, Richmond West End 1st Voter District. “I think it’s important that we elevate the challenge that in one part of the city, people are requesting sidewalk repairs, while in another neighborhood, folks want to have a sidewalk for the first time.”
You are invited
Richmond residents are invited and encouraged to learn more about and participate in the new Richmond People’s Budget process.
INFO and INVOLVEMENT
For more information and/or to get involved, volunteer, make suggestions, have questions answered, please:
·
Contact Matthew Slaats, PhD, Richmond
Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission Senior Lead Staff Support/Senior
Civic Innovation Manager, Richmond City Council Office of Council Chief of
Staff: 804.646.6447 (desk); 804.396.1313 (mobile); matthew.slaats@rva.gov (email)
- E N D -
Richmond
City Council - Richmond City Hall - 900 East Broad Street, Suite 300 -
Richmond, Virginia 23219 U.S.A. - https://rvapb.org/ (web)
