I had the pleasure of facilitating the Fireside Chat that several councillors shared with Chairs from the Neighbourhood Support Coalition in October of 2007. On that evening it was heartening to hear so many councillors support this resident-led, non-governmental organization. Members of the NSC shared with me that they are appearing as a delegation this evening as part of the budget process.
In light of this presentation, I thought you might be interested to know that the NSC has put Guelph on the international map for its innovative approach to sharing and allocating resources. Along with participatory democracy scholars Daniel Shugurensky (OISE/UT) and Josh Lerner (New School for School for Social Research, New York City), I recently submitted an article to the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management highlighting the NSC’s Participatory Budget process.
As far as we know, the NSC is the first citizen group in North America to deliberate the allocation of municipal funds city-wide, based on the Porto Alegre model. In a process that is now famous world-wide, citizens of Porto Alegre, Brazil have been deliberating a portion of the municipal budget since 1989. According to a 2005 UK-based study of global innovations to democracy and citizenship, Participatory Budgeting is one of the top 2 processes of the 57 highlighted
(http://www.makeitanissue.org.uk/Beyond%20the%20Ballot.pdf).According to our studies with the NSC, which have been ongoing over a 4-year period, salient citizenship learning through involvement in the NSC Participatory Budget includes:
Trust and skills for intergenerational cooperation and community building within and across diverse neighbourhoods, which are often divided along socio-economic and racialized lines
Residents describe decisions made by consensus at the NSC as a key opportunity to learn how to compromise with and understand the needs of their neighbours and other city residents
One does not need to be a citizen or a registered voter to participate in the NSC’s organizational structure, making participation accessible to a much wider range of Guelph residents than elections alone
Many times I have heard members of this Council speak in support of participatory democracy and the ‘deepening of democracy’ here in Guelph. The NSC’s appearance this evening presents an opportunity for Council to continue to support this local contribution to a global democratic innovation.
If you are interested, I would be happy to share the results of our NSC studies in more depth, including our recent publication. EP