Why the fuck are you doing PB?

People running participatory budgeting often have a different more honest answer than what's stated in their rulebook.

And it's not their fault. The field handed them a process built for a larger city with a bigger budget and more staff.

They cut corners so it could fit.
Some staff left.
Now they're four cycles in, running something nobody remembers choosing. It's a massive chore with a vote at the end.

That's how PB fossilizes.

(Ask some NYC council offices how it feels to be stuck doing it forever)

Sup, friend ✌🏽
I'm Francesco. Raised in Boston.

I was on a TV show that was by kids, for kids. And I still design that way:

with the people, not just for them.

13 years of it now.
A process gets copied.
A system gets designed.

I right-size your PB to the money, the staff, and the mandate you actually have, and I build it to iterate after cycle one instead of calcifying. A community-led process for $100k is not a city-ordained process for several million, and it should never be designed like one.

New process launchPB from scratch. Process, platform, facilitation, the whole mandate.
Process rehabYour PB is four years old and nobody remembers choosing it. Audit, diagnose, redesign.
Digital infrastructureOpen source, multilingual, online and in the room.
Youth fellowshipsLearn democracy by doing it. Summer and school year.
Facilitation and trainingTalks, trainings, event design.
So. Why the fuck are you doing PB?

If you made it this far, I want to meet you.

Book a call