Participatory Budgeting: Get Money for Things You Care About in Your Community

The Metro Human Relations Commission is helping spread the word about Participatory Budgeting – an opportunity for you and other Nashville residents to make specific requests of things you want Metro government to fund in your neighborhood. This initiative was created as a result of years of community members campaigning for more direct ways to influence the annual budget process to fund the priorities and needs of historically neglected neighborhood infrastructure, city services, and other projects.  

Learn more about PB

Here’s how it works (the simple version):

 - Now: Submit an idea here. You’ll need to include: the idea (it can be anything like a speedbump, an improvement to a park, a new program for youth in a specific neighborhood, an expansion of an existing program, etc.), the purpose of the idea, and the public benefit of the idea. The form is short and you only need to provide a couple sentences for each question. The submission deadline for ideas is June 1st.

 - This summer: Budget delegates (community members from each council district) will review ideas and compile them into a ballot, with ideas sorted by district.  
     
 - This fall: Nashville residents ages 14 and older will vote. Projects that receive community support and meet criteria will be funded.
 
Individuals who are part of organizations or groups can submit the same or similar ideas multiple times to show broad community support. The MHRC is hosting two workshops this Friday, May 26th to provide information, answer questions, and guide activities to support attendees to submit ideas. Drop by in-person or virtually for support or to learn more:

Friday at 8am – 10am: Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (3421 Belmont Boulevard)

Friday at 12pm – 1pm: Zoom (join link)

You can also reply to this email if you can’t make it but want more info. There is $10 million up for grabs!  

Reminder: Join the conversation about IncluCivics 2023

We have 5 more IncluCivics Gallery Walk Throughs. IncluCivics is a report on Metro’s workforce – by demographics, salaries, geography and departments – and is getting attention. A community member even asked a question about it on the first televised Mayoral forum earlier this month. We have been meeting with community groups in addition to the Gallery Walk Throughs to have specific, tailored conversations. Reach out if you want to know more, or meet us at one of these upcoming dates (RSVP here). Community feedback will inform our next steps. If you can’t make it to an event you can still fill out a survey to let us know what about the report stands out to you.      

Gallery Walk Throughs

 - Monday, May 22nd, 6:30pm: Looby Community Center
 - Wednesday, May 31st, 6pm: Southeast Community Center
 - Monday, June 5th, 6pm: Madison Community Center
 - Monday, June 12th, 6pm: McCabe Community Center
 - Wednesday, June 21st, 6pm: Shelby Park Nature Center