Community Democracy Project Democratic Budgeting Program Cheat Sheet

Democratic Budgeting Program Cheat Sheet

Community Democracy Project

 

Democratic Budgeting Program (DBP)

city department at the same level of City Council that implements Oakland's

budgeting process and facilitates civic engagement, dialogue, and participatory
decision-making among the residents of Oakland
 

Neighborhood Assemblies (NAs)

 

Neighborhood size: ~4000 people (therefore, ~100 NAs city-wide)

Monthly meetings: 10+ per year. Content: 1) information about city

departments & programs; 2) local issues; 3) reports from committees; 4)
culture; 5) miscellaneous education & conversation; 6) votes on budget
allocation, department program specifics, changes to overall structure of DBP

All residents aged 16+ eligible to vote at NAs

NA Directors

 

3-5 Directors per NA, elected by residents for 2 year terms

 

organize meetings, oversee NA expenses

 

participate in ongoing leadership development

 

attend city-wide Congress of Directors (see below)

Congress of Directors (COD)

 

The Executive Board of the DBP, composed of all the NA Directors.

Oversees staff and overall program functioning.

Deliberates and decides on minor adjustments in the DBP, and submits major

adjustments to be voted on by the NAs

Receives and synthesizes proposals from the CWCs (see below) regarding the

use of non-general funds. Submits the proposal to the NAs.
Support Staff

Coordinators

full-time staff, 1 per Council District (so 7 total)

supports and promotes the DBP city-wide

launch and support NAs within their district

facilitate information flow among NAs and between NAs and city officials

 

support for DBP meetings & events

arrange leadership development opportunities for Directors

manage work of the Organizers

Organizers

part-time staff, 3 per Council District (so 21 total)

door-to-door outreach for NAs, with special focus on NAs with lower turnout

 

support for DBP meetings and events

communitydemocracyproject@gmail.com

www.communitydemocracyproject.org

 

Budget Vote

 

City Budget Vote

 

Determines allocation of funds between department, and the programming

specifics within each department for funds allocated the previous year.
 

Occurs at all NAs during a one-week period in June

General Funds Allocation

 

Determines what share of General Funds goes to each department. Every voter

makes their choices about percentages to go to each department, and the final
allocation is the average of all the voters' choices.

Departmental Program Vote

People can propose specific program ideas for a given department's budget

Proposals passed at NAs for a given department, 'X', are put together (by

CWCs, see below) into a single "People's Budget" Proposal for Dept. X.

If City officials have submitted a separate proposal for Dept. X, the voters

choose between the two, with the majority winning.
 

Special Funds Allocation

 

Proposals for the use of Special Funds for specific departments are received

from the corresponding CWCs and synthesized by the COD into a single
package.
 

If City officials have submitted a separate proposal, the voters choose between

the two, with the final allocation being the average.

 

Citywide Committees (CWCs)

composed of elected delegates from interested NAs, focused on particular

department/area of expertise
 

receives various proposals from NAs and create alternative “people’s budget”

for their particular department

 

make proposals to COD (see above) for the use of Special Funds targeting

specific departments

Launching Process

 

District Launch Assemblies

choose Coordinators who will then hire Organizers

Neighborhood Launch Assemblies

facilitated by Coordinators & Organizers, will choose Directors of NAs and

draw boundaries.

Program expenses

DBP Fund

 

each NA has monthly budget for meeting & organizing expenses

 

salaries of coordinators and organizers

mailing and other overhead for staff

leadership development funds for Directors

total amount approximately $2.5 million (2012 dollars), fixed for first 5 years,

of DBP, later subject to vote just like other departments