From demands to deliberation: participatory budgeting in Pittsburgh

In 2015, the City of Pittsburgh partnered with several community organizations to design and pilot a unique model of PB tailored to best meet its needs. As a result of this effort, the City implemented Deliberative Community Budget Forums as a more engaging and inclusive method for soliciting public input on the 2016 Capital Budget. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the Deliberative Forums on the quality and level of community participation, deliberation, and engagement, as well as measure outcomes in the budget. Data collected from the 2014 Community Budget Hearings are used as a baseline for comparison. The study found the forums led to considerable quantitative and qualitative improvements in the budget process with respect to public participation and deliberation, and increased general knowledge of the budget and political engagement among participants. The study also determined areas where the forums could be improved, particularly in regards to diversity and political voice. The impact of the forums on the Capital Budget were not able to be determined. At the end, several key recommendations to address these issues are made. This paper concludes by briefly summarizing the findings of the study and discussing their positive implications for the future of the forums as an effective alternative form of PB in Pittsburgh and possibly in the United States