Ideas in Action
Ideas in Action is the City's new Participatory Budgeting initiative, where Bostonians can decide how to spend a part of the City’s budget.
The office of Participatory Budgeting invites all Bostonians to Share their project ideas on how to use $2 million of the City's budget to benefit their communities. The Ideas Collection phase starts on July 1
Ideas in Action Cycle Two
Community Partners for resident engagement application
The Office of Participatory Budgeting seeks to contract with nonprofit organizations to facilitate outreach, public education, and resident engagement during Cycle Two of Ideas in Action, expected to launch in July of 2025.
Watch the recorded info session below:
BACKGROUND
During Cycle One of Ideas in Action, Boston’s Participatory Budgeting initiative, the Office contracted with nine (9) nonprofit organizations to purposefully reach residents who experience higher barriers to engage in local decision-making processes. This Community Partner (CP) approach greatly contributed to the following pilot year achievements:
- 1,238 total ideas submitted in July 2024 during the Idea Collection campaign;
- Of those, 312 ideas were collected at 19 City-sponsored workshops with Community Partners, with over 560 total residents attending these workshops;
- 100+ Boston residents participated in three (3) Visioning Forums cohosted with Community Partners in October of 2024, helping develop 15 ballot proposals;
- Approximately 4,450 votes were cast by Boston residents in January/February of 2025.
Building on the success of this model, OPB plans to expand the pool of community organizations for Ideas in Action Cycle Two, leveraging their expertise and trust in the community to engage with residents, raise awareness, and promote participation in the various phases of the City’s PB process.
For more information, please email pb@boston.gov.
About Ideas In Action
Ideas in Action is an opportunity for Bostonians to unite in open dialogue about budget priorities, engage in identifying community-initiated project ideas, and take collective action to help decide what projects get implemented for the benefit of the City.
Through collaboration with City Departments, partnerships with community organizations, and with guidance from our External Oversight Board (EOB), the Office of Participatory Budgeting (OPB) plans to host yearly Participatory Budgeting cycles in order to:
- Offer opportunities for the public to propose community-centered project ideas to address local priorities and vote on those they would like to see funded with the Office’s budget, and
- Gauge and identify resident priorities to help inform future City and departmental budget investments.
For this first pilot year, OPB and its Board have created a “Participatory Budgeting Rulebook” to provide a comprehensive framework and standard set of rules and operations for this new initiative in Boston.
Have question or need assistance? Contact:
Previous Cycle Summaries
Previous CyclesIdea Collection
- Boston residents submitted over 1200 project ideas. The Office offered multiple channels for residents to participate including
- Nineteen (19) idea collection workshops across the City in partnership with community organizations
- Online PB Portal
- In-person submissions through PB Corners at City Hall and Boston Public Library Branches
- Multi-lingual PB Phone Line
Proposal Development
Open configuration options
- In the Fall of 2024, OPB hosted three (3) Visioning Forums:
- 15 project proposals were drafted by Boston residents with support from OPB and City Departments
- Three (3) in-person Visioning Forums hosted in East Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester with ~100 resident participants worked with 20 City Departments to review, assess, and draft project proposals for the PB Ballot.
Voting
- In January of 2025, a total of 4,462 Boston residents cast their ballot in person and online, selecting their top proposals to be funded.
- 14 ballot proposals available for PB Voting
- 4.35 (high) average number of projects selected per voter
- Highest voter turnout in Dorchester, Brighton, Roxbury, East Boston, South Boston, and Hyde Park
- Media Campaign (Idea Collection + Voting)
- 10 earned media placements across mainstream and ethnic media outlets + 3 mainstream media interviews
- 3.5M total impressions* during Idea Submission + Voting
- ~20M total digital clicks: digital newspapers, ads, + social
- 750+ Radio spots aired with 883,200+ impressions
- Outreach in six (6) Languages: English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Chinese
