Participatory Budgeting Evanston

What is Participatory Budgeting?

In March 2022, the Evanston City Council Participatory Budgeting Committee allocated $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the participatory budgeting process. Additional funding was approved to support staff, technical assistance, and effective process implementation. The democratic participatory budgeting process empowers community members to collectively determine the allocation of funding for projects that have a direct impact on their lives. This inclusive and transparent process involves a series of meetings, workshops, and voting events.

The participatory budgeting process in Evanston was divided into several phases that spanned over a year. In the idea collection phase, more than 1,300 ideas were gathered. These ideas were evaluated and narrowed down to 20 proposals during the proposal development phase, all of which were included on the election ballot. In the final voting phase, participants were able to select up to 7 of the 20 proposals. Funding will be allocated to projects based on the number of votes they received, with priority funding going to the most popular proposals until the entire $3 million is allocated.

The Participatory Budgeting Process

Design the Process. The Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee, whose members represent the community, creates the rules for the process. Click Here to review the City of Evanston Rulebook!

Brainstorm Ideas. Community members share and discuss ideas for projects through community meetings, events and online tools. We collected nearly 1300 ideas from the Evanston Community through 12 in person events and online collection. You can download that list of ideas here.

Develop Proposals. Volunteer budget delegates develop community ideas into proposals that can be implemented by the City. Over the course of 6 months, over 60 community volunteers worked together and with city staff to narrow down proposals and develop them into projects that can be implemented. Several of the ideas didn't move forward you can read the statement on ideas that didn't move forward here. You can find more information about proposal development here.

Vote. Community members will vote on the proposals that best serve the community’s needs throughout the month of September. Voters select between 1-7 proposals to approve. View the full Voting Results.

Fund Selected Projects. The City funds and implements the selected ideas.