| Description: | Engaged in advocacy, lobbying, letter-writing and provision of testimony before Buffalo Common Council to win a line-item in the city budget for participatory budgeting (PB). PB, adopted in thousands of cities around the world, is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It enables taxpayers to work with government to make budget decisions that affect their lives. Although $1 million was originally sought, on May 19, 2015, $150,000 was approved in budget negotiations to fund a pilot program on participatory budgeting. A PB Steering Committee (on which I sit) was established, and efforts are now underway to organize and implement this pilot program in the Masten District over the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and hence open the way to a city-wide participatory budgeting program for the following fiscal year. Students have been engaged in lobbying for PB in Buffalo and will be encouraged to participate in the Assemblies for idea generation. |
| Project/Activity Leader(s): | Tara Melish, Associate Professor and Director, Buffalo Human Rights Center |
| Unit: | Law School |
| Department: | Law School |
| City: | Buffalo |
| State: | NY |
| Country: | United States |
| External Funding: | Yes |
| Funding Source: | Clean Air Coalition |
| Start Date: | 2015 |
| End Date: | active |
| Internal Partners: | Buffalo Human Rights Center |
| External Partners: | Clean Air Coalition; Participatory Budget (PB) Steering Committee |
| Are UB students involved? | Yes |
