New Project: Environmental Justice PB in Louisiana

The PB Project is partnering with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to launch a new PB process for environmental justice funds in Louisiana, with support from the Fund for Democratic Communities. Faced with widespread industrial pollution, Louisiana communities are struggling to protect their environment, public health, and local economies. Oil refineries in the state experience an average of 10 chemical accidents per week, releasing up to 80 different chemicals into surrounding communities. Grassroots groups are struggling to document these environmental injustices, educate residents, and advocate for change.

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!

Full Steam Ahead in NYC

PBNYC is well into its Neighborhood Assemblies stage! Across the four participating City Council Districts, community members are coming out en masse to learn about PB and share project ideas. Roughly half of the Neighborhood Assembly participants so far have volunteered to serve as budget delegates and work over the next several months to turn the ideas collected into a final ballot.

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.

PB at Occupy Wall Street

As the Occupy movement is inspiring people around the world, it is turning to PB for inspiration. The PB Project has been invited to help facilitate teach-ins this Sunday (October 23rd) at 6pm at Occupy Wall Street and at 2pm at Occupy Providence. Occupiers in Boston, Greensboro, and other cities are also reaching out, to see how PB can fit into the movement's diverse tactics and demands.

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.

Project Censored: PB One of Top Censored Stories

For the second year in a row, participatory budgeting has won the bittersweet honor of being named to Project Censored's list of the top 25 censored stories of the past year. Hopefully that streak will end this year, as PB is attracting more coverage from media such as the New York Times and ABC.

Neighborhood Assemblies in NYC and Chicago

Neighborhood Assemblies start today for PB in New York! They will continue throughout October, and anyone is welcome to participate. See http://pbnyc.org for the full schedule.

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