About Shirley Ave Participatory Budgeting
The city of Revere, a small city north of Boston, reached out to MassDevelopment about gathering local feedback on how $275,000 of their Community Development Block Grant funding would be spent.
Given the city’s rich immigrant population – including many Arabic and Spanish speakers – the development finance agency and land bank knew it would need a unique strategy to connect with residents beyond the usual suspects at public meetings.
Using coUrbanize, the MassDevelopment team:
- Gathered 55 unique budget ideas from community feedback that were voted upon as part of the city budget
- Showed residents a throughline of what happened to their feedback and how it was being considered
- Engaged residents who had never attended a community meeting due to work, family commitments, or language barriers
Community members shared not just their ideas, but the ownership and momentum they already had for projects on the ground. That encouraged participation from other community members who were getting involved for the first time.
Laura ChristopherTDI Fellow
MassDevelopment
