Comunicado en Español: Marín Lanza Iniciativa de Presupuesto Participativo
San Rafael, CA – The County of Marin, in collaboration with countless community partners, will launch a process known as participatory budgeting in which community members decide how to spend part of the County’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Applications are open through June 17 for community members to serve on the participatory budgeting committee.Led by the County’s Office of Equity, Participatory Budgeting (PB) will generate ideas for creative, post-pandemic solutions to address racial and social inequities and allow community members to vote directly on how to spend $2.5 million to fund community-initiated projects.
Equity is at the heart of participatory budgeting. Key goals of Marin’s PB process are to transform the relationship that people have with government, increase civic trust and engage more people in the local democratic process, particularly marginalized groups such as young people, people of color, immigrants and low-income communities, among others.
Proposed projects will address issues of housing, mental health, and economic opportunity — priority areas outlined in the recently updated Race Equity Action Plan. In addition, submitted ideas will be focused on Marin communities that score below 70 on the Healthy Places Index (HPI), or have significant racial disparities including Marin City, West Marin, the Canal Area of San Rafael and Novato. HPI is a data tool aimed at advancing health equity across California by evaluating 23 key drivers of health and life expectancy.
“This is an opportunity to give people real power over real money that can make a powerful impact in our local communities,” said County Equity Director Jamillah Jordan. “Connecting the County’s commitment to racial equity with the budget process is an important step in ensuring the County’s policies and resources address the needs of the different communities it serves.”
Phases of Participatory Budgeting
There are six phases to Marin’s Participatory Budgeting initiative:
- Step 1: Recruitment for Participatory Budgeting Committee (April to June 2022). Up to 15 people from different cross sections of the community will be selected to serve on the committee tasked with community outreach and initial proposal review.
- Step 2: Idea Submission (July 2022 to ongoing) Community members will share their ideas about what can improve or support Marin communities. Projects should focus on addressing mental health, housing or economic opportunity, among other topics. View the interactive map of submitted ideas.
- Step 3: Grant Proposals Submitted (February 2023 - August 2023). In collaboration with community-based organizations, grant proposals inspired by ideas collected in Step 2 are submitted for review.
- Step 4: Project Voting (October 2023-December 2023) Members of the public vote on which projects should be implemented. Voting is open to anyone who is 14 years old or above who lives, works or attends school in Marin County, regardless of immigration status. Participants will be able to select their preferences based on the available budget.
- Step 5: Fund Winning Proposals (February - March 2024) The Board of Supervisors announce and fund the winning projects.
- Step 6: Implementation and Updates (March 2024 – ongoing) Grant recipients will implement the projects, providing regular updates on how PB projects are progressing and sharing opportunities for the public to get involved in implementation.
Racial equity is one of the Supervisors’ top priorities, along with affordable housing and homelessness, climate change and sea level rise, disaster preparedness and county infrastructure. The County Office of Equity’s mission is to establish the County as an anti-racist, multicultural workforce committed to accountability, transformational change, and community engagement.
The integration of community engagement into the local government budget process, or participatory budgeting, has been used and studied in cities across the United States and around the world. Visit our website to learn more about participatory budgeting in Marin County.