Participatory budgeting allows people who live, work or study in Evanston to decide how spend $3 million to address our city’s needs, make government policy more equitable, and train future leaders.

Winning proposals announced!

  • Mental Health First Aid Training – 3,400 votes ($50,000)

  • Grants/Incentives for Activities and Education Support for Marginalized Students in Grades 3-12 – 3,117 votes ($700,000)

  • Evanston Urban Farm – 3,014 votes ($350,000)

  • Affordable Housing Subsidy – 2,918 votes ($810,000)

  • Affordable Refugee Housing – 2,890 votes ($645,000)

  • Youth and Young Adult Drop-In Center – 2,692 votes ($210,000)

  • Small Business Grants – 2,095 votes ($150,000)

Over 6500 people voted (8.4% of Evanston’s 78,000 residents) — congratulations Evanston on this historic turnout!

Message from Mayor Biss: “The historic level of turnout in our participatory budgeting process is another demonstration of Evanston’s passionate and engaged citizenry … Our residents’ ideas and involvement are truly our greatest asset, and a sign of how much we can accomplish when we all work together.”

What is participatory budgeting?

Participatory budgeting lets residents vote on how to spend a portion of the city’s budget. Residents generate ideas, develop proposals, vote on which proposals to fund, and the city implements the winning proposals.

#tbt to all those smiling faces during canvassing at the Ecology Center 😁 😁 😁 #canvassing #pbevanston #saycheese
A very busy day at Evanston is Family Strong! Family Fun Fest at Robert Crown. We had a full team today with the Participatory Budgeting Field Manager Ndona Muboyayi, student volunteers Lila Muboyayi of Evanston’s Cradle to Career Youth Advis
Lila Muboyayi of Evanston’s Cradle to Career Youth Advisory Council, educating the public on Participatory Budgeting, while signing them up to receive notifications and to vote when it’s time at the 5th Annual Spring Fling by Elizabeth Sa
Ndona Muboyayi, the Participatory Budgeting Field Manager, explaining the PB process and why it’s important for the community to be engaged this morning at the City of Evanston’s We’re Out Walking (WOW) Kick-Off, educating the publi
Today we spent our morning at the City of Evanston’s We’re Out Walking (WOW) Kick-Off, educating the public on what Participatory Budgeting is, why it is important, as well as registering community members to vote for the proposed project
#tbt to donut hole 🍩 canvassing with Lauren Walcott, Megan Lin, & Sheila Onyango on an almost-snowy-but-not-quite-snowy day ⛄ #canvassing #pbevanston #democracy #grassroots
⭐ Brooke’s first time canvassing with us, and she was AMAZING! ⭐ Join others like Brooke in our canvassing efforts (feel free to reach out for future opportunities ❤️) @notbrookefein
In the interest of keeping the process inclusive, new budget delegates will be eligible to join until Budget Delegate Meeting 2 on Sat. March 11! To satisfy the orientation requirement, budget delegates must watch the budget delegate orientation vid
Share your ideas with Evanston! Join the community to share how you want Evanston to spend $3 million. Tomorrow night is the ASAPI (Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander) Idea Collection Assembly. This is our LAST idea collection assembly, but submiss
Keep an eye out for more idea collection assemblies!! Some upcoming assemblies include: TONIGHT Saturday (1/28) - African and Caribbean Immigrant Idea Collection Assembly at Robert Crown Community Center from 6-8:30pm. Monday (1/30) - NAACP Idea Col

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