In the pilot (FY25) 789 residents submitted 1,238 ideas (758 online, 312 at 19 partner workshops, 98 at community meetings, 67 at PB Corners, 3 by phone), about 560 attended workshops and about 110 the three Visioning Forums, and 4,462 voted on 14 proposals (6.6 per 1,000 residents), funding 6 projects for $2 million. In FY26 1,203 ideas came in (554 at 31 partner events, 166 at PB Corners, 483 online and by phone), over 200 residents joined five forums with 25 City staff, and 4,919 voted (4,480 online, 439 paper) on 13 proposals, funding 8 projects for $2.2 million; FY27 idea collection brought 1,326 ideas, 659 through 37 partner activities. Pilot winners, all centring priority groups: fresh food access $400,000, rat prevention in dense housing $500,000, programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth aged 14 to 21 $250,000, rental assistance for youth 16 to 24 $200,000, community gardens $500,000, bus-stop benches $150,000. FY26 winners: immigrant legal defense fund $400,000 (3,733 votes), fresh food access $500,000, housing stability assistance $200,000, immigrant career pathways with ESOL $300,000, Green My Block $100,000, trades training $300,000, youth financial literacy $250,000, small business technical assistance $150,000. As of September 17, 2026 three of six pilot projects are complete: the fresh food money was spent in the November 2025 SNAP delay response as part of a $3 million Mayoral partnership with the Boston Foundation (delivered, but not the pantry-and-garden programme residents voted for), the Youth Tenant Stabilization Fund helped 54 households with an average of $3,694.67, and youth re-entry grants to 12 organisations totalling $250,000 are under way; three are in progress (120 benches procured, up from 50 planned, with the MBTA installing; containerised waste at four BHA sites in Brighton; GrowBoston garden grants). Of FY26's eight, one is complete, four in progress and three in planning. Delivery is marked Claimed because it rests on OPB's status reports to the Board rather than an evaluation. Ideas not carried to the ballot feed a Summary of Findings dashboard meant to inform the wider City budget, but whether departmental budgets changed as a result is not documented, so that effect is Unmeasured. One pilot proposal (a civilian construction detail) was dropped before the ballot because the City was already implementing it; a civilian flagger system is under way separately. Participants felt heard by the City: 85% to 90% agreed across pilot phases and 82% to 91% at FY26 forums, where 91% agreed the process can address inequities and 95% that it can make the community better. 96% of pilot forum attendees said the forum helped them understand other viewpoints and 80% that it helped them understand the budget process; 91% of FY26 November forum participants said the same, credited to the two-part structure. 86% to 96% across pilot phases planned to participate again; in FY26 fewer than 1% (3 of 453) said they would not, 39 of 93 October forum attendees (42%) returned in November, self-described civic engagement rose from 66% to 86% between the two forums, and 32% of FY27 idea submitters were returners. Reach improved: fewer than 20% of pilot respondents per phase were not civically engaged, against 48% in FY26 idea collection, where 92% were first-time participants, and workshops and forums over-represented Latinx, Black, Asian, lower-income, younger and older residents relative to Boston. Voters are another story: FY26 online voters were 64% white (45% of the city), concentrated in their 20s and 30s, with higher incomes; youth engaged in idea collection largely did not vote; and pilot voter data rest on a 3% survey. Pilot impact findings rest on surveys with high response at partner events but about 6% and 3% for the online portal and vote, which Data+Soul flags throughout; FY26 embedded the questions and reports 77% to 83% response for voting. Voters chose on average 4.35 of 5 allowed projects in the pilot and 4.5 in FY26, which the evaluator reads as engagement with the whole ballot rather than single-issue campaigns; a Better Budget Alliance post in FY26 drew over 130,000 views and roughly 400 votes in one day. City staff across 24 departments gained a rich data source on resident priorities: FY26 forum staff said it informed and affirmed their understanding of needs, one department pre-mobilised to act when funding appears, another is implementing an unchosen idea with reallocated internal funds, and the Office of Returning Citizens expanded its youth work after winning. Community Partners built relationships with OPB and learned about their own communities' needs; all wanted to stay involved while worrying about capacity, and the network grew from 9 to 19 organisations. On the other side sit skepticism that projects will be built as presented, disappointment among some who worked on losing proposals, and repeated requests from residents and partners for progress updates on past winners (partners found that citing past wins made the process feel real), plus Board attrition: membership fell from nine to six in the pilot year, three seats stayed empty from January 2025, and five 2025 meetings could not adopt minutes for lack of the five-member quorum. Still, a new City office and oversight board were built from nothing in 2023-2024, with a Rulebook, toolkit, portal, dashboard and evaluation routine now on a fixed annual calendar, and the Board's FY26 note asks the City to institutionalise PB with a dedicated revenue stream.