The conference dates have also been set - March 30-31, 2012. The conference organizers are already planning an exciting lineup of sessions and activities. Here’s a taste of what to expect:
- Site Visits to Observe PB Voting in NYC
- Presentations on PB processes in New York, Chicago, Toronto Community Housing, Guelph, Montreal, Porto Alegre, the UK, and elsewhere
- Sessions on e-Participatory Budgeting & Digital Media, Community Organizing, Arts & Culture, Public Housing, and Youth Engagement
- Focused discussions for elected officials, practitioners, and community organizations

Stay tuned to the new conference website for updates!

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Participatory Budgeting: From Budget Cuts to the People's Budget
An introductory event Thursday, January 12th 7pm @ Haines Hall 279 on UCLA’s Campus

Are you interested in real world solutions to the budget crises we face?

Would you like to discuss how participatory budgeting can be applied to the city of LA, UCLA and the UC graduate TA union (UAW 2865)?

Then please join us Thursday, January 12th, 7pm at UCLA, Haines Hall 279, for a panel discussion on the Participatory Budgeting (PB) movement. We will be joined by New York City Council Member Brad Lander, Pam Jennings from The Participatory Budgeting Project, and community representatives from NYC's 39th District. The discussants are part of a larger group of four NYC districts who are using participatory budgeting to allocate nearly 6 million dollars in capital discretionary funds. We will learn more about participatory budgeting, the challenges of implementing it in NYC, and discuss ways participatory budgeting can be used in LA and within the UC system. Refreshments will be provided. Hope you can join us!

Please use this google map to find Haines Hall. Once you enter Haines Hall go up the main stairs to the 2nd floor and room 279 will be at the north end of the building on your left.

November 23-26: Porto Alegre, Brazil
10th World Congress of Metropolis

November 25: Baltimore
4:00pm, at The Baltimore Free School (1323 N. Calvert, corner of Calvert and Mt. Royal)
Event hosted by Occupy Baltimore organizers.
More info.

December 6: New Haven
7:00pm at the Hall of Records - City of New Haven (200 Orange Street)
More info.

December 13-15: New Orleans
Visit organized by The Committee for a Better New Orleans and the Open Society Foundation.

International Conference: Participatory Budgeting in the US and Canada
March 30-31, 2012, New York City

CALL FOR PROPOSALS--EXTENDED DEADLINE: JANUARY 31, 2012
Conference Website: http://pbconference.wordpress.com/

In a time of widespread budget crises and plummeting trust in government, politicians and community members are searching for more democratic and accountable ways to manage public money. Participatory Budgeting (PB) offers an alternative. PB is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. The process was first developed in Brazil in 1989, and there are now over 1,000 participatory budgets around the world. Most are for city budgets, but counties, states, towns, housing authorities, schools, and other institutions have also used PB to open up public spending to public participation.

PB is now common in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa - and in some cases even required by law. Yet it has only recently appeared on the radar in the US and Canada, with a few Canadian processes starting in 2001 and some initial US experiments starting in 2009.

This first regional conference on PB will take place in New York City to allow participants to observe and celebrate the closing of the city’s first PB cycle. The conference will provide a space for participants and organizers of the initial PB processes in the US and Canada to share and reflect on their experiences so far, alongside interested activists, practitioners, and scholars.

Dates
March 30-31, 2012

Note: The conference will coincide with the final vote for the New York City Participatory Budgeting process. The dates of the vote have not been finalized yet, but we expect them to be one of these two weekends. We will confirm the dates as soon as possible.

Locations
New York City: Pratt Institute (Brooklyn), Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and other locations throughout the city

Organizers
Pratt Institute, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development
The Participatory Budgeting Project
Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College (CUNY)

Conference Themes
As an opportunity to reflect upon early PB initiatives in the US and Canada, and build new relationships and collaborations between practitioners, the conference will focus on the following questions. We encourage all submissions relating to these and other similar themes.

1) What is the current state of PB practice in the United States and Canada? How are current experiments progressing and what efforts to establish new PB’s are underway?
2) What common themes or conditions underlie PB experiences in the US ad Canada?
3) How do experiences in these countries differ from PB in other parts of the world?
4) How do PB experiences in the US and Canada inform key ongoing debates on PB worldwide?
5) How can PB practitioners, activists, and participants in the US and Canada support each others’ efforts?

Session Types
We encourage presenters to submit proposals for a variety of session formats. These may include, but are not limited to: panel discussions, workshops, presentations, and videos. Sessions are scheduled to last 1.5 hours, but some sessions may group together shorter activities. Though the conference’s primary focus is on PB in the US and Canada, proposals dealing with broader PB issues or other locations will also be considered. Proposals that reflect a diversity of opinions, experiences and backgrounds will be given priority.

Panel Discussions: Panel discussions should be facilitated by a moderator (please indicate in your proposal whether you would like us to help identify a moderator/discussant) and should be composed of 3-5 panelists. Panels should leave adequate time for discussion.

Workshops: The goal of proposed workshops should be the participation of workshop participants in a discussion or other activity designed to learn, communicate, debate, etc. Workshops can be led by a single person, although workshops led by a diverse range of people are preferred. “Presenting” by workshop leader/s should be limited.

Presentations: Presentations of PB experiences and academic papers are also welcome. Presentations will be grouped together based on subject, geography or theme. Academic paper presentations will be limited to 15 minutes, and all presenters should be prepared for discussion with other participants.

Videos and Other Formats: We welcome video screenings and other artistic or creative proposals.

Conference Fees
There will be a sliding scale conference fee from $10 for students and low-income people to $50 for full registration. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Submission Guidelines
Session proposals should include the following information:
● Title
● Abstract (200-400 words)
● Name(s) and/or organizations of authors, presenters, panelists, workshop leaders, etc
● Special arrangements or other considerations (space requirements, scheduling requests, etc)

EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION--January 31st, 2012

Please submit proposals by email to: pbconference.info@gmail.com

Through a PB process, the Bucket Brigade will invite these groups to directly allocate $100,000 for local projects and to shape hundreds of thousands of dollars of general organizational spending. We hope that the initiative will help local groups develop the budgeting and fundraising skills needed to sustain campaigns and engage community members, while enabling the Bucket Brigade to better support grassroots action. At the same time, it will model a new use for PB, showing how organizations and coalitions at the state or regional level can engage members in deciding collective budgets. More info coming soon!

The PB Project has been busy supporting the more than 25 assemblies city-wide in October and November. Starting in a few weeks, hundreds of budget delegates will begin meeting - and organizers will start planning the final vote and expansion for next year. For updates and more info, check out the PBNYC website and Facebook page.

OWS and PB assemblies are both drawing out hundreds of people to build a new form of democracy, in New York and elsewhere. Mainstream media and organizers on the ground are starting to draw connections.

Occupiers could use PB to manage the funds they have raised (over $300,000 at OWS!), modelling a more democratic economy. PB is also one of the more winnable demands occupiers could make, since it's already happening in over 1,000 cities around the world. Existing PB processes could likewise benefit from new support, if occupiers can push for more public control over more money.

PB49 (PB in Chicago's 49th Ward) also announced its fall slate of assemblies, starting in a few weeks.

300,000 additional households into work due to Universal Credit – fanciful thinking?

The Universal Credit was announced with much fanfare in late 2010 – with the aim of ‘radically simplifying the system to make work pay and combat worklessness and poverty’ [1]. A key claim made in the DWPs Universal Credit White Paper is that the new measure will reduce the number of workless households by around 300,000 within two to three years of its implementation. This claim – sourced to “internal analysis using the Department for Work and Pensions’ Policy Simulation Model” – has been widely picked up and reiterated in the media, including by Nick Clegg in The Guardian [2].

Sceptical about this 300,000 figure, we used a Freedom of Information request to get details of the analysis the DWP used to generate it. Closer inspection shows that this figure was generated by inappropriate use of a fairly narrow piece of research and by making and sandwiching together broad assumptions and best-case scenarios – giving an over-optimistic prediction. There is evidence that some in the DWP were aware of how tenuous such conclusions are, but this uncertainty was hidden in what was presented to the public.

In the DWP’s analysis, 250,000 of the predicted reduction in workless households is accounted for by the assumption that 1,300,000 workless households will ‘respond’ to the introduction of Universal Credit, 500,000 of whom will be financially better-off because of its improved ‘incentives’ and that around half of this sub-group will move into part-time jobs. These figures are based on ‘research evidence and assumptions about future levels of conditionality and support’. However, the DWP document fails to note what evidence this is or to make clear the assumptions upon which these inferences are based, especially the presumption that half of this sub-group will move into part-time jobs (why half and why part-time jobs?)

The DWP's simulation draws broad conclusions about why In-Work Credit was effective, based on a much narrower study of the New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) which makes explicit – on p. 1 – that “findings are illustrative but not statistically representative” [3]. The aspects of the New Deal assessed were optional, involved relatively few people and were resource intensive; they offered a lot help with getting into work and staying in work. These characteristics probably help to explain why the transitions into work from NDLP lasted on average for three years (most transitions from welfare to work don’t [4]) but it would be wrong to assume that this will apply to those affected by the Universal Credit.

It is assumed that 1,930,000 people will receive a form of Better-Off Calculation under Universal Credit, that most of them will be in workless households, that 20,000 people make the transition into work every year for three years as a result of the Calculations and that these transitions last for three years on average. Again, these projections draw on research involving optional and resource-intensive aspects of NDLP. It is unrealistic to apply the same assumptions to the nearly two million people who are expected to receive a form of Better-Off Calculation under Universal Credit.

The DWP goes on to assume that 1,330,000 people will be eligible for In-Work Credit and that this will smooth the transition between benefits and work to the extent that 40,000 of them will move into employment, which will be sustained on average for three years. Again, the DWP applies research from NDLP to a much larger and more diverse group of nearly two million individuals who are believed to be in workless households.

The 300,000 figure generated by the DWP analysis is thus over-optimistic and based on unsound analysis. It should, at a minimum, come with clearly specified ‘health warnings’ regarding the uncertainly surrounding such estimates: after all, the Policy Simulation Model is acknowledged to be a ‘simplification of the real world and subject to a number of sources of uncertainty’. It appears that some within DWP did feel that strong caveats were needed: Tracked Changes in the internal analysis released to us show that an earlier draft made clear that “we think this is a plausible estimate, but recognise the true impact is very uncertain”; however, the final draft simply states that “we believe this is a plausible estimate based on reasonable assumptions”.

It is very worrying for the DWP to be complicit in producing and publicising unsubstantiated claims. These claims are used to justify reforms that will disproportionally hit the most vulnerable members of society – those who already stand to lose most from the recession and government cuts. If the Coalition really cares about getting more people into work, there is a real need to move beyond catchy but unsubstantiated headline figures – and to make better use of high-quality research in order to assess what benefit reforms might achieve and who they might hurt.

1: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/legislation-and-key-documents/universal-credit/
2: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/09/nick-clegg-benefits-jobless-reform
3: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep712.pdf
4: http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0708/supporting_people_to_stay_in_w.aspx

Over the past several months, the PBP has worked closely with the Council Members, lead community partner Community Voices Heard, and a City-Wide Steering Committee of 40 organizations, to design and plan the process. District Committees in each of the four districts are now planning the opening round of neighborhood assemblies, which will last throughout October.

Volunteer budget delegates, selected at the assemblies, will then meet for 3-4 months to develop final budget proposals. In March 2012, residents in each district will vote on the proposals, and the top vote getters will be included in the city budget for 2013. We expect this pilot process to expand to additional districts and budget pots once the first cycle is complete. For more information, see today's NY Times article and the PBNYC website, and stay tuned for more updates here.

The full press release is copied below:
Councilmembers and Community Allies Announce Groundbreaking, Democratic Budgeting Initiative
In Four City Council Districts Across New York City, Residents Will Propose and Vote on Capital Projects to be Funded by Members' Budget

NEW YORK, NY, September 14, 2011: Today, Council Member Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan), Council Member Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) and Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), unveiled a new process for budgeting, in which voters in their districts will directly decide how to spend millions of their own tax dollars, a first in New York City.

Through the new initiative, called participatory budgeting, residents will come together in public meetings this fall to discuss local priorities and propose specific infrastructure projects to address the needs of their communities. Community volunteers will finalize proposals and work with city agencies and the council members to estimate costs. Public votes will be held in each district in March, for the residents to decide which projects will be funded. Each council member is reserving at least $1 million in discretionary capital funds for their constituents to allocate.

"We are excited to put budgeting power directly in the hands of the people," said Council Member Brad Lander. "Not only will next year's budget be more democratic as a result, it will also be more effective - because our constituents know best where money needs to go in our community."

"As local representatives, we have the ability to do more than just speak for our constituents. We can let them speak for themselves," said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. "Participatory budgeting asks citizens how they want their taxpayer dollars reinvested in our communities, and encourages civic participation across the neighborhoods we represent. It is a real step towards true democracy in our city, and I am excited to bring this process to my district."

"The message behind participatory budgeting is 'your money, your vote, your choice,'" said Council Member Jumaane D. Williams. "We are empowering the residents of our districts to get educated and engaged in the budgetary process that controls so much of how this city functions from day to day. I believe this will produce a more active electorate that demands more of its elected officials, which is how democracy truly thrives."

Traditionally, council members and their staff determine how to allocate discretionary capital funding in their districts. This is the first time that these decisions will be made through a vote by residents.

Community organizations from across the city are supporting and advising the participatory budgeting effort.

"Participatory budgeting is important because it expands on our concept of democracy," said Ann Bragg, Board Member and Leader at Community Voices Heard (CVH). "Many more people are included in this process and the residents come up with the projects. We make the solutions and we make the decisions. I cannot wait to go to the Neighborhood Assemblies to begin working with my community to address our needs." CVH, a membership organization of low-income New Yorkers, helped bring the idea of Participatory Budgeting to the Council Members and is serving as the Lead Community Engagement partner for the initiative.

"Participatory budgeting offers people a fundamentally different way to engage with government," said Josh Lerner, Co-Director of The Participatory Budgeting Project, technical support advisor for the initiative. "It lets them directly decide what government does with taxpayer money, rather than just electing politicians to make those decisions for them."

"Manhattan Community Board 11 is proud to be a part of the Participatory Budgeting Project in New York City," said Angel Mescain-Archer, Assistant District Manager of Manhattan Community Board 11. "We hope that together with our project partners we can create a successful program that will inspire other communities throughout the city to participate in years to come".

"Participatory Budgeting is one of the most promising developments in good government to come to New York City in the last decade," said Morgan Pehme, Executive Director of New York Civic, a good government organization founded by Henry Stern. "It empowers the people to spend their tax dollars on the projects that really mean the most to their communities, while taking the power of the purse out of the hands of the politicians, who all too often wield these monies for self-serving purposes. The four Councilmembers who have signed on to this initiative should be applauded for their courage and commitment to real reform."

"This is an amazing and unique opportunity to bring decision making on how public money is spent to members of the community. We applaud all the Council members who have committed to participating in this pilot democratic process and look forward to engaging all constituents in their districts."
- Lucia Gomez, Executive Director, La Fuente-NYCPP

"Participatory budgeting has the potential to significantly shift the relationship between our city and its people. Not only does the process direct resources to where they are most needed, but it provides a new conduit for meaningful interaction between elected officials and their constituents. Bravo!"
- Mel Wymore, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 7

"As a political scientist, I study how Americans have lost trust in our government and its ability to heed their wishes and concerns. Participatory budgeting is an exciting democratic innovation that has helped everyday citizens to connect with their elected officials and really get their voices heard, in hundreds of cities around the world. I'm so excited to be part of it here. It's a great moment for democratic accountability in New York City."
- Celina Su, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

"Participatory Budgeting is a tool proven effective to increase informed participation in the public budgeting process, and has real potential to increase democracy in planning and the distribution of public resources in New York City. The initiative deserves full support."
- Peter Marcuse, Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning, Columbia University

Participatory budgeting originated in Brazil and has proven successful in thousands of cities around the world in recent years. Recently, a city ward in Chicago began allocating discretionary capital funds through participatory budgeting.