Museum of Modern PBRead for this piece: the 76-page case study After the Vote: Participatory Budgeting Project Implementation in Providence, RI (Steinberg, Rubinstein and Rudolph-Larrea with NNF coordinators Resendes and Nina; ONE Neighborhood Builders and Central Providence Unidos, October 2025), which is the main source, and its landing page on the ONE Neighborhood Builders site; the state's report Participatory Budgeting: A Health Systems Transformation Project Initiative (Rhode Island Department of Health and Executive Office of Health and Human Services, April 2024); three ONE Neighborhood Builders press releases (launch, November 2022; voting results, June 2023; three agencies selected, January 2024); ONE Neighborhood Builders web posts on the Fresh Fridays panel (December 2022), the project delegates' first meeting (January 2023), the Central Providence Roadmap launch (March 2023) and the Merino Park restrooms opening (July 2025); the Nine Neighborhood Fund page on the Central Providence Unidos site; press coverage reposted by ONE Neighborhood Builders from ConvergenceRI (August 2023) and Providence Business News (September 2023); Ocean State Media's report on the layoffs that ended the program (Ben Berke, March 2026) and the Providence Preservation Society / Providence Post piece on the Health Equity Zone in transition (March 2026); and a Nonprofit Quarterly essay on PB and equity (Rahel Teka, February 2024), which is a general explainer with no Nine Neighborhood Fund content. The Nine Neighborhood Fund Rulebook (Steering Committee, 2022) is listed but could not be fetched, so the rules described here come from the case study and the state report, not from the rulebook itself.
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v1 · 22 September 2026 · curator Goal
The goal of the Nine Neighborhood Fund is to let residents of Central Providence decide directly how $1 million is spent on projects that improve health and well-being for low-income communities of color, so that civic engagement grows among people who face barriers to participation, participants gain skills and a sense of shared responsibility, and elected officials and public agencies adopt participatory budgeting to allocate public funds equitably.
Values
Equity · Externally imposed · Lived
Inclusion · Convener-stated · Lived
Shared power · Convener-stated · Lived
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Partners and Roles
ONE Neighborhood Builders (Central Providence Unidos, formerly CPO HEZ) · Convener · Nonprofit
RI Executive Office of Health and Human Services · Funder · Public
RI Department of Health · Evaluator · Public
Blue Meridian Partners · Funder · Philanthropic
NNF Steering Committee (17 residents) · Decision-maker · Resident committee
Project Delegates (32) and Facilitators (5) · Proposal developers · Resident committee
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partners Maker’s note
Priority Audiences
Low-income residents · Mandate · Targeted outreach within a universal process
Specific ethnic or racial communities · Equity · Targeted outreach within a universal process
Medicaid members · Mandate · Targeted outreach within a universal process, Dedicated channels
Youth · Representation gap · Targeted outreach within a universal process, Dedicated channels
Language-minority communities · Population proportion · Dedicated channels
People excluded from electoral politics · Representation gap · Targeted outreach within a universal process
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Pot of Money
$1,000,000 · Pooled (multiple sources combined) · Can be used for capital, Can be used for programmatic, Must address social determinants of health, Cannot supplant government-funded services, Must be accessible to Medicaid members
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Authority and Mandate
Executive · Formal · Binding
Institutional · Formal · Binding
Council or board · Informal · Aspirational
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Activities
Rulebook authoring · Infrastructure · One-time
Platform deployment · Infrastructure · One-time
Outreach · Process · Per cycle
Idea collection · Process · Per cycle
Proposal development · Process · Per cycle
Voting or deciding · Process · Per cycle
Implementer selection by RFP · Process · Per cycle
Implementation oversight · Process · Per cycle
Cycle debrief · Process · Per cycle
Civic education about PB · System · Episodic
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Feedback Loops
State HSTP PB evaluation (2024) · Partner-led · One-time
After the Vote case study (2025) · Internal team · One-time
One-year-later participant survey (2025) · Internal team · One-time
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Geographies
Central Providence (ZIP codes 02908 and 02909) · Nine neighborhoods (two ZIP codes) · Administrative
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Engagement Channels
Idea collection town halls and assemblies · In-person events · In-person group
Pop-up tables at events and public housing · Embedded in existing spaces · In-person group
Idea boxes at clinics, libraries, businesses · Paper · Self-service
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Costs
Two coordinators at 70% then 40% of their time · Staff time · Organizational
Stipends, interpretation, printing, food, gift cards · Direct money · Organizational
Weekly delegate meetings, committee service over three years · Volunteer and community time · Individual, Community
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Effects
Nearly 1,200 voted, 923 in person · Behavior or practice change · Positive
Over 200 voters aged 13 to 17 · Behavior or practice change · Positive
22.7% of eligible voters rarely vote locally · Behavior or practice change · Positive
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effects Maker’s note
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