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Demo · fictional piece, for illustration only

Riverbend Participatory Budget

Running PB Riverbend PB Office · Riverbend, Ohio, 2024 · version 2, published 14 June 2026

Makes a detached copy in your own canvas. Nothing links back.

Goal
The goal of Riverbend PB is to move real decisions about the capital budget to the people who live with the results, so that the city’s spending reflects neighborhood needs rather than council habits.
Values
Equity · Convener-stated · Lived
Inclusion · Community-surfaced · Aspirational
Transparency · Externally imposed · Performative
3 values
Partners and Roles
City of Riverbend Budget Office · Convener · Public
Riverbend Community Foundation · Fiscal sponsor · Philanthropic
Eastside Tenants Union · Outreach · Community-based organization
5 partners Maker’s note
Priority Audiences
Renters · Representation gap · Targeted outreach within a universal process
Youth · Equity · Dedicated channels
Language-minority communities · Equity · Dedicated channels
3 audiences
Pot of Money
Capital pot · $1.2M per cycle · Public (tax-funded)
1 pot
Authority and Mandate
Council or board · Formal · Advisory with required response
1 authority
Activities
Idea collection · Process · Per cycle
Deliberation · Process · Per cycle
Voting or deciding · Process · Per cycle
5 activities
Feedback Loops
End-of-cycle survey · Internal team · Every cycle
Three-year evaluation · Fully external academic body · Multi-cycle
2 evaluations
Geographies
Six council districts · District · Administrative
1 geography
Engagement Channels
Neighborhood assemblies · In-person events · In-person group
Online ballot · Digital platform · Self-service
Door-knocking in the Eastside · Door-to-door · One-on-one
3 channels
Costs
Two staff positions · Staff time · Organizational
Volunteer budget delegates · Volunteer and community time · Individual, Community
Platform build · Direct money · Organizational
3 costs
Effects
Fourteen projects funded in four cycles · Material or project outcome · Positive
Delegate burnout · Behavior or practice change · Negative
Council now expects a public process for capital spending · Institutional or policy change · Positive
3 effects

Guest book

Every note on this piece, including notes left on single nodes.

M
Mara O. fictional · 20 June 2026· on the whole piece

Delegate here for cycles two and three. The burnout row under Effects is the truest thing on this canvas. Two of us quit mid-cycle and nobody asked why.

R
Riverbend PB Office maker fictional · 21 June 2026

We know. Cycle five adds a delegate stipend and a hard cap on evening meetings. Whether that fixes it is exactly what the three-year evaluation should catch.

T
T. Nguyen fictional · 22 June 2026

A stipend helps. What helped in our city was letting delegates leave after the deliberation phase without it counting as quitting.

J
Jordan Bell fictional · 2 July 2026· on Partners and Roles

“Advocate or accountability holder” is missing from this roster. Who pushes back when the budget office and the council agree with each other?

R
Riverbend PB Office maker fictional · 3 July 2026

Fair. The tenants union does some of that informally. Naming it as a role would be more honest; we will in the next version.

T
T. Nguyen fictional · 15 July 2026· on Authority and Mandate

Advisory with required response is doing a lot of work here. What did the response look like the year the council overrode a winning project?