PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING for Evanston-Northwestern University GOOD NEIGHBOR FUND

PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
We advocate a full-fledged PB process similar to the one designed and implemented in Chicago’s 49th ward by Ald. Joe Moore, ward residents, and the Participatory Budgeting Project over the last 9 years.

We know of no other modern method that (a) so easily implements our American ideals of popular sovereignty, (b) so effectively facilitates practical, informed decision-making, and (c) so quickly cuts through civic stalemates — all at once. This latter is especially important at this moment in U.S. history as impasses are impeding decisions at every level even as resources are more desperately needed, e.g.,
— Federal: health care, gun violence
— State of Illinois: no budget in two years — and counting
— Evanston: divided electorate (mayoral election, equity issues vis-a-vis police department, library, housing)

At the same time, PB provides a profound personal experience of direct democracy in a short time, often to a large number of people all at once. This is because PB is grassroots democracy of the most practical variety — real people coming together to make real decisions about real resources and real issues in real time with real results. The PB process is a proven, flexible method being adopted by local jurisdictions all over the U.S., after years of success in other countries.

RESOURCES and synergies available to an Evanston-Northwestern PB project are abundant:
— Ald. Joe Moore (Chicago, 49th ward) is a Board member of the Participatory Budgeting Project
— The Chicago-based PBP staffperson, Maria Hadden, is a senior coordinator of many types of PB projects
— Great Cities Institute (University of Illinois-Chicago) is a formal partner with PBP
— The 2016 documentary film on PB, Count Me In, was made by Chicago filmmaker Ines Sommer, who is well known to Evanston and NU
— Additional sweat equity by Evanston PB advocates

Additionally, Evanston has tried a limited version of PB, thanks to City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz's long-standing interest in public involvement. Our previous PB experience will be helpful in designing the full-fledged, in-depth process that has been such a game-changer in so many other locales.

An especially synergistic resource for a 2017-18 Evanston-NU PB project is this year’s choice of One Book, One Northwestern: Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, by Danielle Allen. PB not only organically defends equality (and equity) but it actually demonstrates the manifestation of equality.

GOOD NEIGHBOR FUND
The Good Neighbor Fund itself seems an ideal centerpiece for a first-time Evanston experience of a complete PB process. Created in 2015 by an agreement between the City of Evanston and Northwestern University, the Fund stands as a breakthrough moment in the history of Evanston town-gown relations. The GNF is an annual $1,000,000 donation to the City of Evanston by Northwestern, allocated each year for “capital projects supporting city infrastructure and facilities, specific support for existing city services, and special projects.” During the first two years of the GNF (2015, 2016), allocations were made based on joint deliberation by Evanston’s mayor and NU’s president — but with no public discussion and little opportunity for direct public input.

IMPACTS-UPON-IMPACTS OF A PB PROCESS
The current agreement runs for three more years with the next GNF installment to be made after July 1, 2017. In response to Americans’ re-awakened interest in collective decision-making. this third year is an opportunity for even greater impact. Positive, long-lasting impacts of using a PB process to allocate the 2017 Good Neighbor Fund are potentially many, with ramifications far beyond the initial GNF investment:

1. Inclusion: open to everyone in Evanston and at Northwestern

2. Value-added budgeting — more bang for the buck. PB research has shown that the community-at-large is much more creative with limited resources than a single decision-maker or a small group of traditional stakeholders. (Ald. Moore has been especially eloquent on this surprising aspect of PB.)

3. Community education: fun and painless action-learning for all participants, including residents, officials, university, media

4. A living process: rejuvenation of institutions, traditions, people, community

5. Practical, effective communications, including all kinds of checks-and-balances, are built into the decision-making process, minimizing any later need for damage control and maximizing effectiveness of the Good Neighbor Fund.

6. Stewardship: more people caring about implementation, maintenance, tracking, etc., of the GNF investments

7. Satisfying human experience: Compared to ten minutes in a voting booth every two or four years (voting for representatives who may or may not actually represent one’s views on every issue), a single PB process affords numerous opportunities for direct, personal, and extended input. PB is an adult life experience like no other — filled with imagining, speaking, listening, research, writing, arguing, synthesizing. Adults-in-training (children, youth, young adults) can also learn PB and have the same satisfying experience.

8. Foundation for the future: a more nuanced understanding of democracy and government that can create better budgeting at the county, state, regional, and federal levels.

RELEVANT LINKS

BLOG
www.FoodFarmsDemocracy.net

Good Neighbor Fund — official NU webpage & description of fund
http://www.northwestern.edu/communityrelations/about/our-partnerships/good-neighbor-fund.html

2015 allocation (news article)
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2015/10/good-neighbor-fund

2016 allocation (news article)
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2016/10/second-million-dollar-donation-to-evanston/

Evanston Now op-ed June 21, 2017 (with comments)
http://evanstonnow.com/story/government/debbie-hillman/2017-06-21/77848/participatory-budgeting-for-nu-good-...