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City Begins Participatory Budgeting Initiative “Youth Voice, Youth Choice” with Public Idea Assemblies

Youth Voice, Youth Choice LogoYouth Voice, Youth Choice is our new Participatory Budgeting (PB) Initiative, a democratic process where community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget that focuses on engaging people who have not historically been involved in government or budget processes.

Last July, Mayor Murray and Councilmember Nick Licata announced the launch of a citywide youth PB process to take place with $700,000 of city funds. The PB process named Youth Voice, Youth Choice is managed by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON) with the goal of empowering youth to make important decisions on how to spend a portion of the budget.

Youth Voice, Youth Choice involves four steps:

  1. Community members come up with ideas for public projects they would like to see in their communities.
  2. Youth volunteers turn those ideas into concrete proposals with support from Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and City staff.
  3. Seattle youth vote for the projects they would like to see implemented in their communities.
  4. The winning projects are funded and implemented by the City of Seattle and other local agencies.

Next week, the City kicks off the process by holding public idea assemblies to brainstorm ideas for potential projects with community members of all ages. Join us at one of the seven idea assemblies held across the city:

January 28 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Meridian Center for Health

February 3 from 3 – 5 p.m. at UW Ethnic Cultural Center, Unity Room

February 4 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Greenwood Library

February 9 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. at Douglass Truth Library

February 10 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center

February 18 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. at New Holly Gathering Hall

District 7 TBD

Anyone can attend a public idea assembly to share their thoughts on what kinds of projects they would like to see funded in their community. For other ways to get involved, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/youth-participatory-budgeting.