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Durham: City of Durham Participatory Budgeting

Avatar: Official proposal Official proposal

The City of Durham's Participatory Budgeting (PB) Cycle IV expanded civic participation by intentionally including residents often excluded from traditional democratic processes, particularly individuals incarcerated at the Durham County Jail. PB Durham allows residents to directly decide how public funds are invested in their communities. During Cycle IV, residents helped allocate $2.4 million through a multi‑phase process that included idea collection, proposal development, and community voting. 

A key innovation of Cycle IV was a strengthened partnership with the Durham County Jail, expanding participation beyond idea collection and voting to include a structured 12‑week proposal development program inside the jail. More than 133 incarcerated residents took part in the idea collection and voting phases, sharing ideas and casting votes on proposals benefiting Durham residents citywide. 

During proposal development, a cohort of ten incarcerated participants worked directly with PB staff and City technical teams. In weekly sessions, they reviewed community ideas, discussed needs, assessed feasibility, and helped shape proposals for the final ballot. Workshops also provided training on equity and inclusion, data management, and the structure of City and County government, helping participants build leadership and civic skills while contributing to projects that could benefit the broader community. 

The initiative intentionally centered incarcerated residents—one of Durham's most marginalized populations—recognizing that people impacted by the justice system are often excluded from civic engagement. By applying their lived experiences to evaluate ideas and community priorities, participants helped shape a ballot that better reflected perspectives often missing from public processes. The effort required strong collaboration across partners. The Durham County Jail coordinated access and scheduling, while City teams—including PB staff, technical departments, the Innovation Team, the Equity and Inclusion Department, and PB interns—supported facilitation, feasibility review, and program implementation. The Innovation Team also evaluated the initiative through observations, surveys, and interviews to document lessons and strengthen future cycles.

By integrating incarcerated residents into multiple stages of PB, Durham expanded the boundaries of participatory democracy and demonstrated that meaningful civic participation can occur in nontraditional spaces.

Learn more about: https://www.durhamnc.gov/ 

https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1927.pdf 


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Durham: City of Durham Participatory Budgeting

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