About this site

This website is part of the Participatory Budgeting Project’s (PBP) work to expand participatory budgeting across New Jersey and beyond. PBP’s mission is to empower people to decide together how to spend public money. PBP has empowered more than 300,000 people to directly decide how to spend almost $240 million in public funds in 17 cities.

Support for this program was provided in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the NJ Local News Lab at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Democracy Fund.

A note on methodology:

Content for this website was developed through a combination of stakeholder interviews and local policy research; project content will continue to develop as PBP conducts outreach and surveys potential implementers of participatory budgeting. A selection of quotes from our interviewees are excerpted throughout this site; you’ll also find citations for the policy research that we reference below. If you’d like more information on the research represented here, please contact nj@participatorybudgeting.org.

References:

  1. “WiFi? Street repairs? Parks? Cities let residents choose how to spend their tax dollars,” Michelle Bond, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 May 2018.
  2. ALICE: A Study of Financial Hardship in New Jersey, United Way, 2018.
  3. “Who Participates in Local Government? Evidence from Meeting Minutes,” Katherine Levine Einstein, Maxwell Palmer, David M Glick. Perspectives on Politics, 2018.
  4. Rooted in Home: Community-Based Alternatives to the Bay Area Housing Crisis, Urban Habitat, 2018.
  5. “Traffic deaths continue to increase in N.J. Experts cite 3 main reasons.” Larry Higgs, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, 29 January 2019.
  6. “Healthy NJ 2020 | Reduce Motor Vehicle-Related Deaths.” State of New Jersey Department of Health.
  7. Complete and Green Streets for All: Model Policy & Guide, New Jersey Department of Transportation, 2019.
  8. “History of Participatory Budgeting in Seattle,” City of Seattle.
  9. Your Choice, Your Voice: Parks & Streets – 2017 Program Review and 2018 Planning Document, City of Seattle.
  10. “New Jersey Coastal Resilience Plan,” New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
  11. Executive Order 23, State of New Jersey, 2018.
  12. Our Communities, Our Power: Advancing Resistance and Resilience in Climate Change Adaptation, NAACP, 2019.
  13. TIF in a nutshell: within a designated TIF district, local government incentivizes developers to make desired improvements. The government then uses increases in local property taxes to pay for incentives and ongoing development. 
  14. Democratizing Tax Increment Financing Funds through Participatory Budgeting, Blocks Together, UIC Great Cities Institute, and Participatory Budgeting Project, 2016.
  15. Building a Culture of Health: A Policy Roadmap to Help All New Jerseyans Live Their Healthiest Lives, Rutgers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2019.
  16. New Jersey Health Gaps Report, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2015.
  17. “Participatory Budgeting Program: Freehold Borough initiates efforts to involve public in town spending,” New Jersey Municipalities, 2018.
  18. “ReCAST Minneapolis,” City of Minneapolis.
  19. Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) Program, SAMHSA.
  20. “Youth Leadership and Development – Change for You(th),” City of Minneapolis, 2019.
  21. “ReCAST Narrative Overview,” City of Minneapolis.