Description
Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process that empowers community members to decide how to spend part of a public budget. In June and July 2022, community members submitted 1,320 ideas on how to spend $1 million of the City of Cambridge’s FY24 Capital Budget. From August to November, over 70 volunteer PB Delegates worked on five committees to research and evaluate those ideas and develop 20 final proposals for the PB ballot.
Projects are eligible for funding if they:
- Benefit the public;
- Are capital projects (something bought or built);
- Are one-time expenditures that cost $1 million or less;
- Are implemented by the City of Cambridge on City property (streets, sidewalks, parks, libraries, schools, youth centers, senior centers, municipal buildings, etc.).
- Are consistent with existing policies.
Past winning PB projects have included public bathrooms, urban micro forests, laundry access in Cambridge Public Schools, pedestrian-controlled crosswalk lights, STEAM Youth Center Upgrades, and many others.
In addition to this in-person event, residents can vote online, from December 1-11, 2022, at pb.cambridgema.gov. Online voting will be code authenticated; voters will enter their cell phone number or email on the PB website, a code will be sent to them via text message or email, and then they will enter that code online for one-time access to the ballot. The online ballot will be available in English, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, Amharic, Arabic, and Bangla.
Residents can also vote over the phone by calling the Budget Office at 617-349-4270 during regular business hours: Thursday, Dec. 1, from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 2, from 8:30 a.m.– 12 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5 from 8:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Dec. 6-8, from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9, from 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Paper ballots are also available through the City of Cambridge Budget Office in City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, during regular business hours.
For more information about how you can vote, please visit pb.cambridgema.gov or contact the City of Cambridge Budget Office at pb@cambridgema.gov or 617-349-4270.
Additional in-person voting events can be found here, pb.cambridgema.gov/pbevents.