Seattle's Participatory Budgeting Process
Participatory budgeting invites community members to develop ideas and vote on how to spend a portion of the city's budget, with a focus on ensuring historically marginalized communities have a voice in the process.
In 2020 after the protests following the murder of George Floyd, the City of Seattle embarked on a new $27.25 million participatory budgeting process to address public safety and community needs, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In 2024, the following community-selected projects were authorized for implementation as part of the City of Seattle's 2025-2026 budget.
Approved Projects
- Mental Health Crisis Response ($2 M): Funding will expand the Community Assisted Response & Engagement (CARE) Department to increase qualified mental and behavioral health specialists as first responders.
- Urban Farming and Food Equity ($4 M): The Department of Neighborhoods in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Environment will activate two publicly owned greenspaces to lease for urban agriculture and support food equity programs.
- Native-Focused Youth and Community Center ($7.2 M): The Office of Planning and Community Development will support the creation of a community-owned and operated center focused on Duwamish cultural education and recreation for youth.
- Community-Operated Restrooms ($2.2 M): Seattle Parks and Recreation will partner with community to enhance cleanliness and safety of public restrooms.
- Arts and Cultural Preservation Programs ($4.69 M): The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture will activate spaces, provide programs, or create media focused on arts, culture, history, or heritage focusing on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
- Homeowner Stabilization ($3 M): The Seattle Office of Housing will use funds for outreach, engagement, and homeowner stabilization services in communities at high risk of displacement.
- Young Adult Day Center ($2 M): The Human Services Department will support a community-led young adult day center connecting 18 to 25-year-olds to resources, social services, counseling, meals, computer access, and job-finding supports.
- Youth and Young Adult Emergency Shelter Capital Fund ($1.85 M): In collaboration with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, the Human Services Department will fund vital enhancements, modifications, and repairs to youth shelters.
- Youth Violence Prevention Programs ($315 K): The Human Services Department will fund community-led organizations providing afterschool programs, youth leadership opportunities, and sports.
Next Steps
Eight City departments listed above will implement projects through competitive grants or within existing lines of business beginning early 2025. Grant opportunities and project updates will be posted this page as more information about each project becomes available.
December 10 Press Release: Seattle’s 2025-2026 Budget Authorizes $27.25 Million to Implement Participatory Budgeting Projects
Our Commitment to Transparency
Our vision at the Seattle Office for Civil Rights is a city of thriving and powerful communities that foster shared healing and belonging. We understand that healing cannot happen without full transparency and honesty to the communities we serve.
Our mission is to uphold civil rights and end structural racism in city government through accountable community relationships and anti-racist organizing, policy development, and civil rights enforcement. We understand that we cannot be true to our mission without upholding a participatory budgeting program that repairs the harm experienced by Black community and staff.
We commit to openness, authenticity, integrity, collaboration, and thoughtful planning throughout the process of supporting the participatory budgeting program. Further, we acknowledge the valid criticisms that exist on the transparency that the City has displayed throughout this process and how that has caused significant harm, especially to Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. The Office for Civil Rights’ commitment is to offer access to information; that members of the communities most impacted by racism, oppression, and colonization hold the right to see how this process works, how and by whom decisions are made, and how decisions will affect them.
In September 2020, Seattle City Council designated $3 million for research by the Black Brilliance Research Project on how to address public safety for communities disproportionately affected by police violence and systemic racism. The report, released in 2021, recommended implementing a participatory budgeting process to create an inclusive process that interrupts harm and follows Black leadership by co-creating investment strategies with community members within the following five focus areas:
- Housing and physical spaces including diverse housing options and Black-led residential and commercial spaces
- Mental health, including with culturally responsive health services led by people with lived experience who receive equitable pay for their services
- Youth and children, including child care and out-of-school time support for youth most impacted by systemic violence and trauma
- Economic development that creates pathways to business ownership and generational wealth
- Crisis and wellness strategies, including community-led alternatives to the current 911 and crisis response system
FAQs
What is Participatory Budgeting (PB)?
Participatory budgeting is a democratic process, where communities and members of the public decide how to spend allocated public funding. PB allows those generally left out and marginalized from budgetary conversations to have a voice in the process.
Graphic from Participatory Budgeting Project.
Where else has participatory budgeting been done?
Seattle is not the first city to utilize a participatory budgeting process. Other cities across the United States have implemented participatory budgeting to make investment decisions in education, community development, housing, and other areas. Learn more about participatory budgeting taking place in other jurisdictions using the links below:
King County, WA
Participatory Budgeting Project
New York City, NY
Cambridge, MA
Boston, MA
Where does the PB funding come from?
Seattle City Council designated $30 million from the City’s general fund in 2020 for this PB process. This included a $2.75 million allocation to identify a third-party administrator to develop community-informed proposals and run the voting process.
Timeline
2015
The City of Seattle launches its first participatory budgeting process in the Department of Neighborhoods (DON).
2020
Nationwide protests demand police accountability and greater investments in Black communities and those most impacted by police violence. The City of Seattle allocates $3 million in Black-led research to explore community-led solutions to community safety and wellbeing, which recommends PB as a potential solution.
2021
Seattle City Council designates $30 million to expand the PB process, which included $2.75 million to identify a third-party administrator to develop community-informed proposals and run the voting process. This PB process is moved from the Department of Neighborhoods to the Office for Civil Rights. SOCR releases a Request for Proposal to identify the third-party administrator.
2022
The Participatory Budgeting Project is selected as the third-party administrator. Teams are assembled to advise on work, facilitate community engagement, and support feasibility of the projects that would be developed.
2023
Community members co-design proposals for the PB ballot, and a voting process is conducted, which yields six winning projects.
2024
SOCR convenes City departments and community members to develop plans for how the winning priorities can be implemented. Legislation authorizing funding for the proposed projects is transmitted to Seattle City Council. Projects are approved as part of the City's 2025-2026 budget.