Participatory Budgeting earns King County Executive's Equity, Racial & Social Justice Innovation Award

May 24, 2023

SUMMARY

King County Executive Dow Constantine recognized Participatory Budgeting – a community driven funding program centered on racial equity – for achieving exceptional improvement results and making the county a place where every person can thrive.

STORY

From its inception, King County’s Participatory Budgeting program was rooted in the reality that centuries of bigotry, discrimination and unjust policies created barriers for entire groups of people across the county and in our region, specifically for black, brown and indigenous community members.

Now, that approach and the inaugural results it helped yield has earned Local Services a Performance Excellence Award from King County Executive Dow Constantine. The series of awards honor employees and workgroups at King County who bring a Best-Run Government approach to their work, and have made exceptional contributions in performance, leadership, and innovation.

Specifically, Local Services Director’s Office won the Equity, Racial & Social Justice Innovation Award, which recognizes Participatory Budgeting for achieving exceptional improvement results and making the county a place where every person can thrive.

Executive Constantine announced the series of award winners this month. Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Anita Whitfield presented the award to the Local Services.

“Together, with the community, they implemented a Participatory Budget approach that allocated $11 million to fund projects in five urban, unincorporated King County communities,” Whitfield said. “And they did it with a strong focus on community engagement and co-creation, while centering those urban, unincorporated communities that have been most marginalized.”

The five areas Whitfield referred to and Participatory Budgeting focused on were:

• White Center
• Skyway
• East Federal Way
• East Renton
• Fairwood

Historically, members of these communities have had little say in how county funds are invested to benefit their neighborhoods, Whitfield added. Under these circumstances, it has made sense that these communities would “experience their government making decisions for them, as opposed to with them.”

Participatory Budgeting was a first for King County, and now other organizations are asking the county to share the lessons it learned throughout the co-creation process, she said.

While the award recognizes the collective work of the Director’s Office at Local Services, much of the credit goes to Participatory Budgeting Program Manager Gloria Briggs, who oversaw this effort from its inception.

Through intentional program design, she reminded everyone involved that the program was centered on racial equity, whether it was through “Land and Enslaved People” acknowledgements before any steering committee meeting to listening and helping guide difficult discussions on racism’s generational damage to black, brown and indigenous communities. Her efforts with Participatory Budgeting were rooted in pushing back on systemic racism that people face on a daily basis.

“While managing this program the past two years, it has been a humbling experience and huge honor to work so closely with community members, all while building meaningful transformational relationships with the individuals involved,” Briggs said. “When ‘Racism is a Public Health Crisis’ was declared by King County’s Office of Equity Race & Social Justice, I took it to heart and dedicated my work to undoing systemic racism and bringing real change to the way we do business in King County.”

A great example of that centering of racial equity came organically. Briggs said the Community Investment Budget Committee – the group that created the framework for the first round of Participatory Budgeting – had to determine how much each of the five communities was allotted in terms of funding. Instead of taking the traditional route of dividing the pot equally, group members listed to how racism and other factors disproportionately affected some areas more than others. Based on those meaningful conversions, the group chose to allocate the majority of the funds to White Center and Skyway – two of the most racially diverse and negatively impacted areas in unincorporated King County.

“That’s one of the beautiful things about Participatory Budgeting,” Briggs said. “It creates a safe space to speak honestly and learn about the hurt racism causes in our communities. It also gives us a way – by repurposing power to communities by choosing how money is spent in their neighborhoods – to address it.”

That process resulted in the first “vote week” in which residents cast more than 2,600 ballots and selected 46 projects across the five unincorporated areas that King County will fund.

“You always hear how government can’t solve everything, especially for complicated and sensitive issues such as the generational effects of racism,” Local Services Director John Taylor said. “Well, Participatory Budgeting provides an example of how local government actually can try to address that issue through public project funding. I could not be prouder of the work and effort of Gloria Briggs and the entire Director’s Office.”

Participatory Budgeting

In 2021, the King County Council approved Executive Constantine’s new approach to community investment—one that’s centered on racial equity. It gives people who live, work, play, or worship in the county’s five urban unincorporated areas the chance to directly choose how more than $11 million is spent in their communities.

Participatory budgeting allows communities to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending. Residents help decide how to spend money on capital projects (physical things that are bought, built, installed, or fixed up) or programs and services.

The Community Investment Budget Committee, a.k.a., the steering committee, a group of residents from King County’s urban unincorporated areas, met virtually to create the framework for the new participatory budgeting process. It then solicited project ideas from the public and determined which of those projects should go to a public vote.

The work, planning and community building culminated last August with a public vote that was open to anyone 12 years or older who lived, worked, went to school or worshipped in any of the five areas.

By the end of that week, residents cast more than 2,600 ballots and selected 46 projects across the five unincorporated areas that King County will fund.

Local Services is now conducting its second round of Participatory budgeting.

QUOTES

• Participatory Budgeting Program Manager Gloria Briggs: “While managing this program the past two years, it has been a humbling experience and huge honor to work so closely with community members, all while building meaningful transformational relationships with the individuals involved. When ‘Racism is a Public Health Crisis’ was declared by King County’s Office of Equity Race & Social Justice, I took it to heart and dedicated my work to undoing systemic racism and bringing real change to the way we do business in King County.”
• King County Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Anita Whitfield: “Together, with the community, they implemented a Participatory Budget approach that allocated $11 million to fund projects in five urban, unincorporated King County communities. And they did it with a strong focus on community engagement and co-creation, while centering those urban, unincorporated communities that have been most marginalized.”
• Local Services Director John Taylor: You always hear how government can’t solve everything, especially for complicated and sensitive issues such as the generational effects of racism. Well, Participatory Budgeting provides an example of how local government actually can try to address that issue through public project funding. I could not be prouder of the work and effort of Gloria Briggs and the entire Director’s Office.

MEDIA CONTACT

Brent Champaco, Local Services, 206-477-9094, brent.champaco@kingcounty.gov