How Would You Spend $1 Million to Improve Cambridge? Vote on Participatory Budgeting Projects March 6 – 16, 2025

As part of its 11th Participatory Budgeting (PB) Cycle, the City of Cambridge invites the community to vote on projects to improve the City from March 6 – 16, 2025. Voting will be open to all Cambridge residents age 12 and older (and all 6th graders) regardless of citizenship status, including university students. Capital and operating projects for up to three years are eligible for up to $1 million in funding for this year’s PB11 process.

From August through October 2024, Cambridge community members submitted over 1,300 ideas on how to spend $1 million of the City of Cambridge’s FY26 Budget. From October 2024 to January 2025, nearly 80 volunteer PB Delegates from the community researched and developed those ideas into the 20 final proposals for the PB ballot.

Residents are encouraged to learn more about the 20 ballot project proposals at pb.cambridgema.gov. Project themes include:

• Community resources
• Environment
• Facilities, parks and recreation
• Transportation, streets and sidewalks
• Youth
  

Beginning on March 6, 2025, community members can vote for up to five proposals in one of three ways:

• Online: Vote at pb.cambridgema.gov.
• Phone: Call the City of Cambridge Budget Office at (617)-349-4270. Regular business hours are Monday 8:30 AM – 8:00 PM, Tuesday – Thursday 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Friday 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
• In-person: Visit PB11 voting locations. See the full schedule at pb.cambridgema.gov.

Paper ballots are also available through the Budget Office during regular business hours. Online and paper ballots are available in English, Amharic, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Haitian Creole, Hindi, French, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese. 

After voting closes, the City invites community members to attend the PB11 vote results party in the Sullivan Chamber at Cambridge City Hall (795 Massachusetts Avenue) from 6-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, where the winning projects will be announced. This event is open to all members of the community, and food and drinks will be provided.

Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process where community members can vote to decide how to spend part of a public budget. In Cambridge, Participatory Budgeting aims to directly involve residents in the budgeting and city-building process, foster civic engagement and community spirit, and help ensure that the City’s budget reflects the priorities of Cambridge residents and local partners.

Projects are eligible for Participatory Budgeting funding if they:

• Benefit the public
• Cost $1 million or less
• Are either a capital project with a one-time expenditure on City property, or an operating project with a fixed duration of up to three years
• 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 City policies.

Past winning PB projects have included public art murals, shaded seating on city streets, laundry access in Cambridge Public Schools, pedestrian-controlled crosswalk lights, accessible swings in City parks, and many others.

Last cycle, a record 10,522 Cambridge residents age 12 and older voted to decide how to allocate Participatory Budgeting funding to address community needs. Since the inaugural process in 2014, the City of Cambridge has collected more than 10,000 ideas and committed over $9.5 million to Participatory Budgeting projects across ten cycles.

For more information about PB and how you can vote, please visit pb.cambridgema.gov, contact the City of Cambridge Budget Office at 617-349-4270, or email pb@cambridgema.gov

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