By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
King County is in the middle of its Participatory Budgeting process, which allows members of five urban unincorporated areas of King County—East Federal Way, East Renton Plateau, Fairwood, North Highline/White Center, and Skyway/West Hill—to decide, via a public vote, which public projects they wish to fund in the upcoming year. According to officials, participatory budgeting allows communities to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending.
The process requires residents to have honest, authentic discussions about how racial inequities have damaged entire communities and then work together to reach consensus as they decide how to spend money on capital projects (physical things that are bought, built, installed, or fixed up) or programs and services.
This year, the County allocated $11.75 million in public project funding, which was allocated as follows:
• East Federal Way – $1,516,000
• East Renton – $754,000
• Fairwood – $754,000
• Skyway/West Hill – $3,040,000
• White Center/North Highline – $2,786,000
The communities of Skyway/West Hill and White Center/North Highline will also receive $2.9 million in marijuana tax revenue as part of the program:
• Skyway/West Hill – $1.74 million
• White Center/North Highline – $1.16 million
“The Participatory Budget comes with two funding sources,” says Briggs. “One is capital-backed bonds, and those funds are used for our capital projects in our unincorporated areas. The second comes from the marijuana tax revenue. So, Skyway and White Center, they have marijuana retail stores, and a percentage of that goes back to the county, and we use those funds this year in those communities.”
The timeline for the process includes the active engagement of community members, county staff, and the steering committee. Throughout the process, dates are set to milestone accomplishments such as PB design, Idea Collection, Proposal Development, Voting, and Funding. The 2023 schedule, which was led by a steering committee of 27 community members, is as follows:
• Design, April – August 2023 where 27 community members lead the steering committee to design this participatory budgeting process and allocate funds to each area.
• Idea collection, September – November 2023. This is where community members are asked to submit project proposal ideas in person, online, by phone, or via paper idea submission forms.
• Proposal development, November 2023 – April 2024, community volunteers work with King County staff members to build detailed project proposals that will go on a community ballot for a vote.
• Voting, May – June 2024. Community members vote on the proposals that best serve the needs of the community, and lastly, funding will begin in July of 2024 and ongoing. King County Local Services funds and implements the winning ideas.
This program centers around four priorities:
• Equity: Creating a process that uses authentic community engagement to reach those who are farthest away from traditional power, resources, and opportunities. Creating and participating in those outreach efforts throughout all phases (idea collection, project development, voting, planning, and evaluation). Considering investments that address the greatest community needs when choosing projects.
• Access: Allowing all community members to participate in the process. Providing language interpretation and translation and accessibility accommodations for meetings. Engaging the community in ways that meet the needs of people of different ages and with different amounts of education.
• Accountability: Developing ways to measure how the committee is actively engaging people who have not been involved in past government or budget processes. Informing and engaging residents of each community about the process, timelines, project identification, submittal, and selection.
• Prioritization and cost estimation: Validating each area’s community needs list (a list of needs created using community input and discussions). Prioritizing projects and evaluating cost estimates for the projects that will be considered by the community for investment.
“This was a lot of fun and it was exciting and very different,” says Briggs. “Different types of programs and services that were able to be funded, and our children and families were able to participate in the different services because of PB. One of the very unique things about PB is we fund ideas that come from the community. So, these are ideas, programs, and services that local services or King County staff aren’t putting out there; these are actual ideas coming from community members, and that’s what makes this a wonderful thing about this program.”
Organizations such as Double Dutch Divas, Grant Program, Youth and Education Programs and Services, West Hill Community Association, Capacity Building, Acts on Stage – Summer Youth Theater program, Green STEM apprenticeship program, Refining Impact – Mobile Food Bank, We.App – Speak with Purpose, just to name a few, are some of the organizations in Skyway that were recipients of the marijuana funding.
Organizations funded last year by the capital-backed bonds include: Strolling Safe on 57th Avenue S., Campbell Hill – Community Track, Street Beautification – Skyway Business District, Grocery Outlet – Outdoor Community Space Upgrades, Welcome Home – Down Payment Assistance, Where is My Bus? – Metro Bus Stop Upgrades.
Membership on the steering committee is open to all members of the public who live, work, attend school, play, and/or worship in the communities they seek to represent or who can demonstrate some other strong connection to that community, such as having been displaced from there due to gentrification. King County supports the Steering Committee with administration, education, project management, facilitation, cost calculation, and determinations regarding the legal use of funds. It also provides training, mentoring, and coaching to help the team navigate government systems effectively.
“When we convened our steering committee, we took 29 members of the community and walked them through a process where they learned about equity and social justice frameworks that we use here within King County to do our work,” says Briggs. “Such things as learning how to invest in things where the needs are the greatest, targeting universalism, I train them on and walk them through training on that, and with that knowledge, they started having conversations among their own of how do we really promote racial equity when it comes to allocating these funds.”
