City of Cambridge Seeks Volunteers for 2022 Participatory Budgeting Cycle

The City of Cambridge is seeking volunteers to serve as Participatory Budgeting Delegates for the upcoming 2022 proposal development process.

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of the city’s capital budget. Delegates will research project ideas submitted by the public in June and July and develop the final proposals that will be presented for a community vote in December 2022.

Volunteering is a great opportunity to become a community leader, develop team-building skills, get to know your neighbors, learn more about Cambridge, and help make your city a better place.
Participatory Budgeting Delegates will:

• Work as part of a committee to research submitted ideas and evaluate projects on need, impact, and feasibility.
• Participate weekly in committee meetings from August - early November.
• Conduct site visits in Cambridge; visit proposed locations of projects.
• Consult with city staff on project feasibility. Learn about the city’s capital budget and the budget process.
• Review feedback from city staff and the City Manager to make final decisions about projects on the ballot.
• Tweak PB project language to make it appealing to voters.
• Provide explanations to the Budget Office for each project that did not make it to the ballot as to why it did not move forward.
• Communicate Delegate concerns to facilitators and the Budget Office.
• Provide feedback to evaluate the PB process.

The participation format of the proposal development process will be finalized at a later date.

Cambridge residents interested in serving as PB delegates can sign up online at https://pb.cambridgema.gov/volunteer2 or by contacting the Budget Office at pb@cambridgema.gov or 617-349-4270. The deadline to apply is August 2, 2022.