· Simon Galperin
Simon Galperin · November 6, 2018
The business model is a journalist’s first editor. How a news organization makes and spends money creates just as many boundaries as the editorial strategy that dictates what and how to report. That’s why engaged journalism shouldn’t be limited to an organization’s editorial approach. Engagement should be a central part of the business of journalism.
In some ways it is. Direct public offerings (opens in a new window), membership (opens in a new window), cooperative structures (opens in a new window), and new public funding models (opens in a new window) are ways journalists are already centering their businesses around the communities they serve. But in order to maintain this foothold, engaged journalism cannot be stagnant. It must continue to innovate. Participatory budgeting is one way to do that.
Participatory budgeting (opens in a new window) is a way for community members to directly determine how to spend a given budget. It was first used in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989 in order to renew trust in government after decades of authoritarian rule. Today, participatory budgeting has been used over 3,000 times in cities across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America and South America.
In New York City, 31 of the city’s 51 council districts use participatory budgeting (opens in a new window) to allocate tens of millions of dollars of the city’s discretionary budget.
In Boston, what started as an experiment is now a core part of the city’s youth engagement efforts (opens in a new window). Every year, anyone between the ages of 12 and 25 who lives, works, or plays in Boston gets to decide on how the city spends $1 million.
Schools and colleges in Arizona (opens in a new window), New York (opens in a new window), Illinois (opens in a new window), and California (opens in a new window) have used participatory budgeting.
In 2015, Toronto’s public housing agency (opens in a new window) allocated $1.8 million to 37 community-elected projects.
The results are stronger, more informed communities.
There is an association (opens in a new window) between participatory budgeting and rising social equity. And the process enables (opens in a new window) better governance by improving information exchange, leading to more effective public services and reduced corruption.
This is not a new idea. This is a tried and true way to build trust. That’s what should make it so palatable to newsrooms. And it cultivates the local democratic culture that news organizations need to thrive.
Here are a few ways you might use participatory budgeting in your newsroom:
- You’ve received a grant to serve a marginalized community. You can use participatory budgeting to let that community decide what they need from you.
- You’re looking for an exciting way to launch or promote membership. You can make participatory budgeting a benefit for members.
- You need to address a major organizational impropriety. You can ask the community you’ve wronged to help you decide how your reporting resources should be allocated to make your organization more inclusive.
- You want to bridge divides between local institutions and underserved communities. You can collaborate with local government or civic institutions to facilitate a participatory budgeting process on their behalf.
Participatory budgeting might take longer than one or two people making decisions about where to allocate resources. But the process results in more accountability and transparency while simultaneously improving the outcome of the decision. It’s a win-win-win.