{"id":146,"date":"2026-05-23T08:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=146"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:09:33","slug":"what-detroit-can-learn-from-participatory-budgeting-processes-in-nyc-boston-and-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"What Detroit can learn from participatory budgeting processes in NYC, Boston and\u00a0Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield delivered her first State of the City address on March 31, 2026, at Mumford High School on the city\u2019s northwest side.<\/p>\n

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In the speech, Sheffield touted the accomplishments of her administration\u2019s first 90 days, which included bringing the cash assistance program RxKids to Detroit. Sheffield also announced a new initiative called Ride to Rise, which offers free bus service to the city\u2019s K-12 students year-round.<\/p>\n

Sheffield stressed mandates to tackle poverty, support youth development and seniors, build more single-family homes, increase homeownership and make the city a welcoming place for small businesses to grow and thrive.<\/p>\n

That commitment to improving the lives of Detroiters, according to Sheffield, is reflected in the $US3 billion budget she introduced on March 9, 2026. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget is a statement of our priorities and our values,\u201d Sheffield said during the address.<\/p>\n

Giving residents a say<\/h2>\n

One thing that\u2019s missing from her budget proposal is any mention of participatory budgeting \u2013 something that Sheffield often championed during her 12 years serving on the City Council.<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail, Sheffied said that participatory budgeting allows \u201cresidents to feel empowered and have a direct say in how their tax dollars are spent.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a professor of political science and author of a recent book called \u201cBudget Justice\u201d about grassroots politics. I think Sheffield had it right on the campaign trail \u2013 communities around the country want to democratize the budget process so that local governments better address their needs and increase transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n

I gained this perspective by serving on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s transition team on community organizing, mass governance and .<\/p>\n

Participatory budgeting is a democratic experiment that gives constituents, rather than elected officials, power to decide how to allocate a portion of public funds. Although Detroit often holds community engagement forums and open calls for grant funding, participatory budgeting differs because it puts the power of the purse into the people\u2019s hands. <\/p>\n

Cities need democracy between elections<\/h2>\n

I first encountered participatory budgeting in 2011. Leaders from the grassroots organization Community Voices Heard and others helped to bring it to New York City during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Protesters who were part of that movement questioned why banks received governmental bailouts while households struggling with predatory student debt did not. I joined the rulemaking steering committee for New York\u2019s new participatory budgeting process and stayed involved for the next decade. <\/p>\n

New York\u2019s process consists of four stages each year. In the fall, residents learn about the process through public service announcements, local media, door-knocking outreach or word of mouth. They then attend neighborhood assemblies where they pitch thousands of proposals for community projects. Frequently, a simple question gets them started: \u201cHow would you spend $1 million of the city\u2019s budget?\u201d <\/p>\n

Meeting face to face matters. I\u2019ve observed dozens of these assemblies, and people are much less likely to troll others in person than they are online, when they are anonymous and fueled by keyboard courage. <\/p>\n

Over each winter, some residents volunteer to research and curate the proposals that will end up on the ballot. They also work with city agencies to develop ideas into full-fledged proposals. In New York, these projects have ranged from curb extensions at intersections identified as dangerous by local residents to and conflict resolution training programs. <\/p>\n

Each spring, residents vote for the proposals that they want implemented. <\/p>\n

Each summer, winning projects get funded.<\/p>\n

In New York City, voting week for 2026 participatory budgeting proposals is April 11-19. <\/p>\n

Engagement beyond voting<\/h2>\n

In the fiscal year 2026 budget cycle, New Yorkers allocated $30 million in public funds as part of the city\u2019s $116 billion budget.<\/p>\n

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The nonprofit Community Development Project reported that 68% of the 17,000 people who voted on participatory budget proposals at the time of the survey had never worked together on a community issue before. Roughly stated that they were not eligible to vote in regular elections, primarily because of being under age 18 or holding an undocumented immigration status. <\/p>\n

For many, participatory budgeting helped them to understand their communities in new ways. As one participant put it, \u201cI was able to see the needs (of) the community in a way I\u2019ve never seen before. \u2026 I didn\u2019t know how bad of an asthma cluster there was in public housing. I don\u2019t have kids, so I don\u2019t know about needs at school. I don\u2019t have any relatives who live in senior housing, so I didn\u2019t know about the issues they faced.\u201d <\/p>\n

Participatory budgeting also produced ripple effects. Participants were 8.4% more likely to vote than those who had not participated in the process. The effects are even greater for those who have lower probabilities of voting, such as low-income and Black voters. <\/p>\n

In Detroit, only 22% of voters took part in the most recent municipal election. Participatory budgeting could be a tool for increasing turnout.<\/p>\n

No shortcuts for meaningful participation<\/h2>\n

In my experience, participants need to feel they are doing meaningful work.<\/p>\n

Research shows that participatory budgeting works best when communities allocate significant pots of money through the process, when residents are trained and encouraged to stay engaged beyond the process, and when combined with efforts to change practices in other parts of government, too. <\/p>\n

In Boston, the Better Budget Alliance works to make sure projects that didn\u2019t get funded through the city\u2019s participatory budgeting process still get included in community demands for the larger city operating budget, and vice versa. <\/p>\n

In New York, the Mamdani administration has just announced a new Office of Mass Engagement that aims to deepen the levels of transparency, listening and follow-through in the city. <\/p>\n

In other words, experiments such as participatory budgeting can serve as an entry point to transformational change. <\/p>\n

That change may look like the ambitious and growing national people\u2019s budgets movement, which brings together local residents and community groups to protest budget cuts on essential services, articulate budget priorities and democratize the budget process. Unlike participatory budgeting, the movement\u2019s campaigns often ask questions regarding divestments \u2013 for example, from jail expansions \u2013 as well as investments. It also concerns itself with taxes and the revenue side of the budget, and how budgetary powers should be shared by the mayor, city council, agencies and residents. <\/p>\n

A beginning in Brazil<\/h2>\n

In Brazil, where participatory budgeting first began, the process was seen as an investment in working-class residents. Brazilian cities that implemented the process collected 16% more in taxes than cities that did not implement the process. Cities with participatory budgeting were seen as more legitimate, making their residents more willing to support additional taxes. These cities also boasted of higher tax collection and compliance rates. <\/p>\n

Participatory budgeting also helped residents to harness the popular pressure and political will to reject development projects \u2013 such as luxury hotels \u2013 that they felt reflected business interests more than public needs. Because citizens expressed interest in providing funds for prenatal health, prominent political scientists even credit participatory budgeting with lowering infant mortality.<\/p>\n

In American cities such as New York and Detroit, participatory budgeting processes could in time take on more challenging issues, such as universal day care or social housing.<\/p>\n

Opaque budgets and an austerity mindset lead to distrust in government, perpetuating anti-tax sentiments. <\/p>\n

This undermines the capacity of government to get things done. Robust participatory budgeting can help residents press for what they value most and serve as a tool to help cities such as Detroit thrive.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Affordable\u2019 Pittsburgh doesn\u2019t have enough affordable housing \u2013 here\u2019s\u00a0why<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Participatory budgeting makes the people involved more likely to vote \u2013 an important consideration in a city like Detroit where many don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[315],"tags":[559,558,258,560,557],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-accountability","tag-detroit","tag-local","tag-participatory-budgeting","tag-voting"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Detroit can learn from participatory budgeting processes in NYC, Boston and\u00a0Brazil - Pro Relocation Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Detroit can learn from participatory budgeting processes in NYC, Boston and\u00a0Brazil - 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