Portland Youth Exercise Power through Participatory Budgeting

A dollar sign forms one of the columns of a stately building

From Rebecca Jacobson / Reed Magazine: Through Youth Voice Youth Vote, nearly 800 young people in Portland took part in a participatory budgeting process to decide how to spend $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding. The winning projects, including a paid internship program, expanded access to menstrual products, and a job resource fair, are now in the process of being implemented.

Read the original story here.

Find more stories on budgeting processes in a wellbeing economy.

More Resources:

From Gail Cornwall / The Hechinger Report: In an effort to help lower student debt while benefiting the community, the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps program provides 3,200 students with service jobs and pays them $700 a month. Click here to read...

From MaryLou Costa / Reasons to Be Cheerful: Fund a Mom gives 40 single mothers in Jaipur, India, $60 a month with no strings attached. The guaranteed income program helps them cover necessary expenses giving them the breathing room to...

From Emma Peaslee / NPR: A guaranteed income pilot program in Stockton, California, resulted in improved mental health and even increased full-time employment rates. The extra cash gave recipients who were struggling with poverty the mental and financial bandwidth to...

From Cinnamon Janzer / Yes! Magazine: Occupy Wall Street ignited today’s debt cancellation movement. Groups like the Debt Collective are winning victories, canceling predatory student debt and pushing systemic reforms like tuition-free college. Though incremental, these changes are rewriting policy...

Anita Chandra (she/her) is vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being and a senior policy researcher at RAND. The division that she leads covers a range of topics at the intersection of social and economic policy and...

Romain Sepehr Vakilitabar is the founder of Pathos Labs, a non-profit laboratory focused on exploring ways in which entertainment and media can rewrite harmful narratives and change culture. One such project is PopShift, an initiative that convenes Hollywood’s leading TV...

We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. By continuing to browse, you agree to our use of cookies. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.