What if you could help decide how the government spends public funds? | Shari Davis

My name is Shari Davis,

and let's be honest,

I'm a recovering government employee.

And I say that with a huge shout-out to the folks that work in government

and on systems change.

It's hard.

It can be isolating.

And the work can feel impossible.

But government is the people that show up.

Really, it's the people that can show up

and are committed to the promise that public service offers:

service to people,

democracy

and fixing the problems that community members face.

Seventeen years ago,

I walked through city hall for the first time as a staff member.

And that walk revealed something to me.

I was a unicorn.

There weren't many people who looked like me

that worked in the building.

And yet, there were folks committed to addressing hundreds of years

of systemic inequity

that left some behind and many ignored.

Where there was promise,

there was a huge problem.

You see, democracy, as it was originally designed,

had a fatal flaw.

It only laid pipeline for rich white men to progress.

And now, if you're a smart rich white man,

you understand why I say that's a problem.

Massive talent has been left off the field.

Our moral imaginations have grown anemic.

Our highest offices are plagued by corruption.

We're on the brink of a sort of apathetic apocalypse,

and it's not OK.

We've got to open the doors

to city halls and schools

so wide that people can't help but walk in.

We've got to throw out the old top-down processes

that got us into this mess,

and start over,

with new faces around the table,

new voices in the mix,

and we have to welcome new perspectives every step of the way.

Not because it's the right thing to do --

although it is --

but because that's the only way for us to all succeed together.

And here's the best news of all.

I know how to do it.

The answer -- well, an answer,

is participatory budgeting.

That's right.

Participatory budgeting, or "PB" for short.

PB is a process that brings community and government together

to ideate, develop concrete proposals

and vote on projects that solve real problems in community.

Now I realize that people don't get up and dance

when I start talking about public budgets.

But participatory budgeting

is actually about collective, radical imagination.

Everyone has a role to play in PB,

and it works,

because it allows community members to craft real solutions

to real problems

and provides the infrastructure for the promise of government.

And honestly,

it's how I saw a democracy actually work for the first time.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts,

and mayor Menino asked me

to launch the country's first youth-focused PB effort

with one million dollars of city funds.

Now, we didn't start with line items and limits

or spreadsheets and formulas.

We started with people.

We wanted to make sure that everyone was listened to.

So we brought in young people

from historically and traditionally marginalized neighborhoods,

members of the queer community

and youth that were formerly incarcerated,

and together, often with pizza and a sugar-free beverage,

we talked about how to make Boston better.

And we designed a process that we called "Youth Lead the Change."

We imagined a Boston

where young people could access the information

that they need to thrive.

Where they could feel safe in their communities,

and where they can transform public spaces into real hubs of life

for all people.

And that's exactly what they did.

In the first year,

young people allocated 90,000 dollars to increase technology access

for Boston public high school students,

by delivering laptops right to Boston public high schools,

so that students could thrive inside and outside of the classroom.

They allocated 60,000 dollars to creating art walls

that literally and figuratively brightened up public spaces.

But they addressed a more important problem.

Young people were being criminalized and pulled into the justice system

for putting their art on walls.

So this gave them a safe space to practice their craft.

They allocated 400,000 dollars to renovating parks,

to make them more accessible for all people of all bodies.

Now, admittedly,

this didn't go as smoothly as we had planned.

Right before we broke ground on the park,

we actually found out that it was on top of an archaeological site

and had to halt construction.

I thought I broke PB.

But because the city was so committed to the project,

that's not what happened.

They invited community in to do a dig,

protected the site,

found artifacts,

extended Boston's history

and then moved forward with the renovation.

If that isn't a reflection of radical imagination in government,

I don't know what is.

What sounds simple

is actually transformational for the people and communities involved.

I'm seeing community members shape transportation access,

improve their schools

and even transform government buildings,

so that there is space inside of them for them.

Before we had PB,

I would see people who look like me

and come from where I come from

walk in to government buildings for this new initiative

or that new working group,

and then I'd watch them walk right back out.

Sometimes I wouldn't see them again.

It's because their expertise was being unvalued.

They weren't truly being engaged in the process.

Put PB is different.

When we started doing PB,

I met amazing young leaders across the city.

One in particular, a rock star, Malachi Hernandez,

15 years old,

came into a community meeting --

shy, curious, a little quiet.

Stuck around

and became one of the young people hoping to lead the project.

Now fast-forward a couple of years.

Malachi was the first in his family to attend college.

A couple of weeks ago,

he was the first in his family to graduate.

Malachi has appeared

in the Obama White House several times

as part of the My Brother's Keeper initiative.

President Obama even quotes Malachi in interviews.

It's true, you can look it up.

Malachi got engaged, stayed engaged,

and is out here changing the way we think about community leadership

and potential.

Or my friend Maria Hadden,

who was involved in the first PB process in Chicago.

Then went on to become a founding

participatory budgeting project board member,

eventually a staff member,

and then unseated a 28-year incumbent,

becoming the first queer Black alderperson

in Chicago's history.

That's real engagement.

That's being taken seriously.

That's building out and building on community leadership.

That's system change.

And it's not just in the US either.

After starting 30 years ago in Brazil,

PB has spread to over 7,000 cities across the globe.

In Paris, France,

the mayor puts up five percent of her budget,

over 100 million euros,

for community members to decide on and shape their city.

Globally, PB has been shown to improve public health,

reduce corruption

and increase trust in government.

Now we know the challenges that we face in today's society.

How can we expect people to feel motivated,

to show up to the polls

when they can't trust that government is run by and for the people.

I argue that we haven't actually experienced

true participatory democracy

in these United States of America just yet.

But democracy is a living, breathing thing.

And it's still our birthright.

It's time to renew trust, and that's not going to come easy.

We have to build new ways of thinking,

of talking, of working, of dreaming, of planning

in its place.

What would America look like if everyone had a seat at the table?

If we took the time to reimagine what's possible,

and then ask, "How do we get there?"

My favorite author, Octavia Butler, says it best.

In "Parable of the Sower," basically my Bible, she says,

"All that you touch You Change.

All that you Change Changes you.

The only lasting truth Is Change.

God Is Change."

It's time for these 50 states to change.

What got us here sure as hell won't get us there.

We've got to kick the walls of power down

and plant gardens of genuine democracy in their place.

That's how we change systems.

By opening doors so wide

that people can't help but walk in.

So what's stopping you

from bringing participatory budgeting to your community?