People's Budget Cleveland - Democracy Beyond Elections

PEOPLE’S BUDGET CLEVELAND

Case Study

In 2023, People’s Budget Cleveland launched a historic ballot initiative to direct the City of Cleveland to put aside funds equivalent to 2% of the City of Cleveland’s General Fund each year towards participatory budgeting. While the vote was razor thin, the measure did not pass. This campaign built on previous advocacy efforts to ask the city government to allocate $30.8 million of American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) funds towards participatory budgeting, a democratic process in which community members directly decide how public funds are spent.

See Other ARPA Case Studies

A Community-led Recovery: ARPA Funds in Central Falls, RI

December 13, 2022 / Case Study / ARPA

A group started VOCES CON PODER in Central Falls, RI, to use participatory democracy practices to allocate ARPA

A Community-led Recovery: ARPA Funds in Oregon

December 12, 2022 / Case Study / ARPA

Youth Voice Youth Vote PB (YV2 PB) was launched in Oregon in 2022 to use participatory democracy practices

A Community-led Recovery: How to Use Participatory Budgeting for American Rescue Plan Funding

September 14, 2021 / Brief / ARPA, Participatory Budgeting

This booklet provides information on how your community can and must have a say in American Rescue Plan

Interested in getting involved? Sign on as an organization.

First Name

Last Name

Email*

Phone number

Organization

Position

City

State

Zip / Postal Code

If your organization is part of any networks or alliances, share them here

Partner or Supporter

Supporter Partner

What does it mean to be a supporter and what are you committing to as a supporter?

You commit to lift up the work of Democracy Beyond Elections on your channels
Receive regular communications from us with regular updates

What does it mean to be a partner and what are you committing to as a partner?

Join monthly strategy sessions
Access to quarterly trainings and early access to our toolkits
Lifting up the work to your networks via social media, newsletters, etc.
Commitment to participate in strategy sessions
Commitment to participate in creation of DBE initiatives

How does DBE fit into your work? What excites you about DBE to strengthen your existing work?

We ask DBE partner organizations to commit to attending and helping to shape monthly strategy sessions. Can you attend these meetings, kicking off this winter?

We ask DBE partner organizations to commit to attending and helping to shape monthly strategy sessions. Check this box if you can attend these meetings, kicking off this winter!