Dixmoor CIP PB zine

Village of Dixmoor, IL Specialville

What is Capital?

Michael wakes up and gets ready for school. He goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

The pipes that carry the water to his sink are capital.

Michael gets dressed and walks to school. He notices a crack in the sidewalk on his way. He sees the crossing guard at the crosswalk and waves. The crossing guard stops traffic so that he can cross.

The sidewalk, crosswalk, and street are capital.

Capital are public goods that we all use every day. Capital projects are physical improvements the village can make to such things as pipes that carry water, parks and community centers, and street lighting.

What is Participatory Budgeting?

After school, Michael tells his parents about the crack he found in the sidewalk. He’s worried that grandma will have trouble walking on the sidewalk when she comes to visit next week.

Michael‘s parents show him a flyer they received in the mail that afternoon that says the Village of Dixmoor will hold a meeting to begin a participatory budgeting process next week. At the end of the process, residents will be voting on how the village should spend its money in the next 5 years.

Michael asks if they can attend the meeting to share his concerns about the cracked sidewalk and ask if the village could build a park in their neighborhood so that Michael can meet his friends after school without his parents having to drive him.

They decide to go and learn more about this process and how they can vote for what they want to see in their community.

Participatory Budgeting is a process by which residents vote on how their community will prioritize its budget.

Note: Participatory Budgeting is a phrase with many syllables that takes everyone who says it a long time to say - mayors, village workers, residents...everybody! So it’s often shortened to its initials, “PB.”

Why is Participatory budgeting (PB) important?

It is important that citizens exercise their power to help the government make decisions about things that affect their daily lives.

Like Michael, residents can share their voice around issues in their environment that impact them every day!

By using participatory budgeting, they can say that they want the government to put money toward those issues. Then their local government can create capital projects directed at fixing those problems and making the community a better place to work, live, and play.

What Does the PB process look like?

A committee made up of residents, village workers, and elected officials is formed. This group, known as the Steering Committee, makes a plan to talk to as many residents as possible and get their opinions on how the village should spend its money.

The committee engages other residents about areas of priority for capital projects. The steering committee should make sure to engage residents who don’t typically have the opportunity to voice their opinion.

The steering committee creates a ballot of prioritized areas.

Residents vote!

The Village of Dixmoor will adjust the Capital Improvement Plan to better address residents’ priorities.

What does it Mean MOre

Words to know

Capital Improvement Plan: a list of projects, known as capital projects, that a town or village make to address issues in the community over the next 510 years

Participatory democracy: participation by residents in political decisions that affect their lives

Marginalized community: groups of people who have been historically left out and have had unequal access to power because of their identity

Priority/prioritized: most important

What did you learn?

A Capital Improvement Plan lists the ___________ ___________ (2 words) the municipality will work on in the next 5-10 years. Some examples of capital projects are ___________, ___________, and ___________ . (list 3). Residents are able to ___________ for their priorities during the participatory budgeting process. Why do YOU think participatory budgeting important?