-
My name is Shari Davis,
-
and let's be honest,
-
I'm a recovering government employee.
-
And I say that with a huge shoutout
-
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
can 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 lap tops
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 till our birth right.
-
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 it's 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?
Jenny Lam
There's a small typo that could affect the translation:
6:28 - 6:30
Put PB is different.
Should be:
6:28 - 6:30
But PB is different.