Seattle city council will use participatory budgeting to allocate $30 million to programs that create “true public health and safety”. Residents of Seattle will get to decide over the coming months how to spend $30 million, much of which would otherwise go to the city’s police department. In response to mounting public pressure to divest… Read More
Policing
The role of Participatory Budgeting in policing and community safety
Participatory Budgeting responds to #BlackLivesMatter in USA
Across the USA communities, energised by #blacklivesmatter, have been organising to demand that upwardly spiralling police funding should be tempered and replaced by a system of prevention and community cohesion – the things that matter to citizens. Find out how they have been turning to Participatory Budgeting to do just that. In Los Angeles 50… Read More
Speke Up – Participatory Budgeting in Merseyside 2019
Dr Andrew Fisher connects strength based engagement and participatory budgeting. Find out what happened at Speke Up – Tackling Serious and Organised Crime Through Strengths Based Engagement in Speke Merseyside, a project led by MutualGain. “There is evidence that suggests a strong correlation between low social capital and high levels of crime and disorder. High… Read More
Pushing at the limits: Participatory Budgeting and prisoner rehabilitation in Canada
Jez Hall writes about how PB can push the limits of empowerment to the most unusual of suspects. One of the amazing things about Participatory Budgeting(PB) is how it can push boundaries and break down walls. Even the walls around the criminal justice system? A step too far? Whether its in empowering young people by… Read More
PB and Social Isolation: New blog by Jez Hall
In a new blog by Jez Hall, published on the Shared Future CIC website outlines why he thinks PB and reducing social isolation go together. Highlights of his blog are below. "Recently I’ve been coordinating a citizen inquiry on elderly care at home, where social isolation is a key emerging theme to promoting well-being and… Read More
2,500 people vote on projects to end Islamophobia in Edinburgh
It is a sad but undeniable fact that post Brexit levels of hate crime have risen across some parts of the UK, most notably England and Wales. Intolerance, ignorance, prejudice and inequality have emerged as communities try to make sense of the Brexit impact on society. Analysis of this information and the conceptual intelligence held… Read More
Tackling Islamophobia in Edinburgh: Building bridges not walls?
‘Shared Vision – Your Decision’ is an Edinburgh based initiative which enables local people to decide how public money is spent in eradicating Islamophobia and associated prejudice behaviour. Police Scotland, the City of Edinburgh Council and The Scottish Government have made a total of £40,000 available as part of their ongoing commitment to addressing Islamophobia across Edinburgh…. Read More
From small idea to big change: challenging domestic abuse and hate crime through Participatory Budgeting
A blog by Dr Andrew Fisher of MutualGain, who ran the PB and community safety workshop at Engage, Think Do! Two weeks ago I presented a workshop at the International PB conference on the use of PB in relation to community safety. This is one of those subjects where, on a Friday afternoon, you… Read More
The Winner Takes It All? Opportunities for Mainstreaming Citizen Participation
The Winner Takes It All is a guest blog by Dr Andrew Fisher, who led the workshop on policing at Engage, Think, Do! international PB fringe conference in Edinburgh in October 2016. Last weeks International PB conference set the sights very high for next year. A fabulous venue, a great backdrop in Edinburgh and wonderful… Read More
Burtonwood residents have their say in Police Commissioner led PB
THE fate of a £20,000 cash post has been decided after the public was asked to have their say on where the money should be spent. Eleven projects will receive funding from the A Better Burtonwood Participatory Budgeting project in Warrington. The winners were announced by Cheshire’s police and crime commissioner John Dwyer. He said:… Read More
