My name is Shari Davis, and let's be honest, I'm a recovering government employee. And I say that with a huge shout-out to the folks that work in government and on systems change. It's hard. It can be isolating. And the work can feel impossible. But government is the people that show up. Really, it's the people that can show up and are committed to the promise that public service offers: service to people, democracy and fixing the problems that community members face.
Chámome Shari Davis e para ser honesta son funcionaria en vías de rehabilitación. E digo isto co máximo respecto para quen traballa na función pública e no cambio sistémico. É difícil. Pode resultar solitario. O traballo pode semellar imposible. Mais o goberno é a xente que se presenta. De verdade, é a xente que se presenta e cumpre o cometido da función pública: servizo ó pobo, democracia e resolver os problemas da comunidade.
Seventeen years ago, I walked through city hall for the first time as a staff member. And that walk revealed something to me. I was a unicorn. There weren't many people who looked like me that worked in the building. And yet, there were folks committed to addressing hundreds of years of systemic inequity that left some behind and many ignored. Where there was promise, there was a huge problem. You see, democracy, as it was originally designed, had a fatal flaw. It only laid pipeline for rich white men to progress. And now, if you're a smart rich white man, you understand why I say that's a problem. Massive talent has been left off the field. Our moral imaginations have grown anemic. Our highest offices are plagued by corruption. We're on the brink of a sort of apathetic apocalypse, and it's not OK.
Hai 17 anos paseei por primeira vez polo concello como traballadora. Esa acción reveloume algo. Eu era un unicornio. Non había moita xente traballando naquel sitio que se parecese a min. E aínda así había xente traballando para corrixir centos de anos de desigualdade sistémica, que esqueceu a uns e ignorou a outros. Onde había unha promesa tamén había un gran problema. O deseño orixinal da democracia tiña un defecto fatídico. Só asentou as bases para o progreso do home branco e rico. Se es un home branco, rico e intelixente, entendes por que iso é un problema. Deixamos moito talento fóra de xogo. A nosa imaxinación moral está anémica. A corrupción infesta os altos cargos. Estamos ó bordo dunha apocalipse apática, e iso non está ben.
We've got to open the doors to city halls and schools so wide that people can't help but walk in. We've got to throw out the old top-down processes that got us into this mess, and start over, with new faces around the table, new voices in the mix, and we have to welcome new perspectives every step of the way. Not because it's the right thing to do -- although it is -- but because that's the only way for us to all succeed together.
Temos que abrir moito as portas dos concellos e das escolas para que a xente non poida evitar entrar. Desfacernos dos obsoletos procesos que van "de arriba a abaixo" e que nos meteron nesta lea, e comezar de novo, con novas caras na mesa, novas voces no grupo, e debemos apreciar os novos puntos de vista sempre. Non por que estea ben facelo --que o está-- senón porque é o único xeito de prosperar xuntos.
And here's the best news of all. I know how to do it. The answer -- well, an answer, is participatory budgeting. That's right. Participatory budgeting, or "PB" for short.
E o mellor de todo é que sei como facelo. A resposta --ou máis ben unha resposta--, son os orzamentos participativos. Escoitastes ben. Os orzamentos participativos, ou "OP" para abreviar.
PB is a process that brings community and government together to ideate, develop concrete proposals and vote on projects that solve real problems in community.
Os OP permiten que a comunidade e o goberno creen e desenvolvan en conxunto propostas concretas e voten os proxectos que atenden problemas reais da comunidade.
Now I realize that people don't get up and dance when I start talking about public budgets. But participatory budgeting is actually about collective, radical imagination. Everyone has a role to play in PB, and it works, because it allows community members to craft real solutions to real problems and provides the infrastructure for the promise of government. And honestly, it's how I saw a democracy actually work for the first time.
Xa sei que a xente non monta unha festa cando falo dos orzamentos públicos. Pero os orzamentos participativos van sobre a imaxinación radical colectiva. Todos xogamos un papel nos OP, e funcionan, porque permiten que os membros da comunidade elaboren solucións reais a problemas reais e proporcionan as infraestruturas sobre as que construír goberno. E, sendo sincera, así vin funcionar unha democracia, de verdade, por primeira vez.
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts, and mayor Menino asked me to launch the country's first youth-focused PB effort with one million dollars of city funds. Now, we didn't start with line items and limits or spreadsheets and formulas. We started with people. We wanted to make sure that everyone was listened to.
Recórdoo coma se fose onte. Foi no 2014 en Boston, Massachusetts, e o alcalde Menino pediume que puxese en marcha os primeiros OP dirixidos á mocidade financiados cun millón de dólares de fondos públicos. Non comezamos polos límites de gasto, partidas orzamentarias, follas de cálculo nin fórmulas. Comezamos pola xente. Queríamos asegurarnos de que escoitabamos a todo o mundo.
So we brought in young people from historically and traditionally marginalized neighborhoods, members of the queer community and youth that were formerly incarcerated, and together, often with pizza and a sugar-free beverage, we talked about how to make Boston better. And we designed a process that we called "Youth Lead the Change." We imagined a Boston where young people could access the information that they need to thrive. Where they could feel safe in their communities, and where they can transform public spaces into real hubs of life for all people.
Así que trouxemos xente nova de barrios histórica e tradicionalmente marxinalizados, membros da comunidade <i>queer</i> e mocidade ex-reclusa, e xuntos, normalmente cunha pizza e unha bebida sen azucre, falabamos de como mellorar Boston. E creamos un proceso que chamamos "A Mocidade Lidera o Cambio". Imaxinamos un Boston no que a mocidade tivese acceso á información que necesita para prosperar. No que estean seguros nas súas comunidades e no que poder converter os lugares públicos en espazos vivos para toda a xente.
And that's exactly what they did. In the first year, young people allocated 90,000 dollars to increase technology access for Boston public high school students, by delivering laptops right to Boston public high schools, so that students could thrive inside and outside of the classroom. They allocated 60,000 dollars to creating art walls that literally and figuratively brightened up public spaces. But they addressed a more important problem. Young people were being criminalized and pulled into the justice system for putting their art on walls. So this gave them a safe space to practice their craft. They allocated 400,000 dollars to renovating parks, to make them more accessible for all people of all bodies.
E iso é exactamente o que fixeron. O primeiro ano, a mocidade destinou 90.000 dólares para mellorar o acceso á tecnoloxía do alumnado dos institutos públicos, e entregou ordenadores portátiles ós institutos públicos de Boston, para que o alumnado puidese prosperar dentro e fóra das clases. Destinaron 60.000 dólares á creación de murais que, literal e figuradamente, iluminaron os espazos públicos. E isto atendeu un problema moito máis importante: a mocidade era criminalizada e atrapada no sistema xudicial por poñer o seu arte nas paredes. Esta solución ofreceulles un espazo seguro para practicar a súa arte. Destinaron 400.000 dólares á renovación de parques, para facelos máis accesibles a todas as persoas e tipos de corpos
Now, admittedly, this didn't go as smoothly as we had planned. Right before we broke ground on the park, we actually found out that it was on top of an archaeological site and had to halt construction. I thought I broke PB. But because the city was so committed to the project, that's not what happened. They invited community in to do a dig, protected the site, found artifacts, extended Boston's history and then moved forward with the renovation. If that isn't a reflection of radical imagination in government, I don't know what is.
Agora ben, admito que isto non saíu exactamente como o tiñamos planeado. Xusto antes de que comezásemos co parque, descubrimos que estaba situado nun xacemento arqueolóxico e tivemos que deter a construción. Pensei que rebentara os OP. Pero grazas a que a cidade estaba moi comprometida co proxecto pasou algo ben distinto. Invitaron á comunidade a facer unha escavación, protexeron o sitio, atoparon obxectos, ampliaron a historia de Boston e logo procederon coa renovación. Se isto non é reflexo da imaxinación radical do goberno, non sei que pode ser.
What sounds simple is actually transformational for the people and communities involved. I'm seeing community members shape transportation access, improve their schools and even transform government buildings, so that there is space inside of them for them. Before we had PB, I would see people who look like me and come from where I come from walk in to government buildings for this new initiative or that new working group, and then I'd watch them walk right back out. Sometimes I wouldn't see them again. It's because their expertise was being unvalued. They weren't truly being engaged in the process. Put PB is different.
Algo tan simple supón unha transformación para o pobo e para as comunidades implicadas. Vexo os membros da comunidade moldeando o acceso ó transporte, mellorando as súas escolas e mesmo transformando edificios gobernamentais, para teren cabida eles mesmos. Antes de termos OP, podía ver xente coma min que viña do mesmo sitio ca min e entraba nos edificios do goberno por unha nova iniciativa ou por un novo grupo de traballo, e víaos marchar case inmediatamente. Algunhas veces non volvían aparecer. Porque non se valoraba a súa experiencia. Non os implicaban de verdade no proceso. Mais os OP son diferentes.
When we started doing PB, I met amazing young leaders across the city. One in particular, a rock star, Malachi Hernandez, 15 years old, came into a community meeting -- shy, curious, a little quiet. Stuck around and became one of the young people hoping to lead the project. Now fast-forward a couple of years. Malachi was the first in his family to attend college. A couple of weeks ago, he was the first in his family to graduate. Malachi has appeared in the Obama White House several times as part of the My Brother's Keeper initiative. President Obama even quotes Malachi in interviews. It's true, you can look it up. Malachi got engaged, stayed engaged, and is out here changing the way we think about community leadership and potential.
Cando comezamos cos OP, coñecín a líderes novos e incribles por toda a cidade. Un en concreto, unha estrela, Malachi Hernández, 15 anos de idade, veu a unha asemblea comunitaria --vergoñento, curioso, algo reservado. Quedou con nós e converteuse nun dos mozos ó liderado do proxecto. Avancemos un par de anos, Malachi foi o primeiro da súa familia en ir á universidade. Hai un par de semanas, foi o primeiro da súa familia en graduarse. Malachi acudiu varias veces á Casa Blanca de Obama como membro da iniciativa "Gardián do meu Irmán". O Presidente Obama mesmo cita a Malachi nas súas intervencións. É certo, podes buscalo. Malachi comprometeuse, e segue comprometido, e está a cambiar a nosa percepción do liderado comunitario e do seu potencial.
Or my friend Maria Hadden, who was involved in the first PB process in Chicago. Then went on to become a founding participatory budgeting project board member, eventually a staff member, and then unseated a 28-year incumbent, becoming the first queer Black alderperson in Chicago's history. That's real engagement. That's being taken seriously. That's building out and building on community leadership. That's system change.
Ou a miña amiga Maria Hadden, implicada no primeiro proceso de OP en Chicago. Que se converteu en membro fundador do comité de proxecto dos OP, converteuse co tempo en axente, e despois desbancou a un cargo de 28 anos de antigüidade e converteuse na primeira concelleira negra e <i>queer</i> na historia de Chicago. Iso é implicación real. Iso é que te tomen en serio. É ampliar e desenvolver o liderado comunitario. É cambiar o sistema.
And it's not just in the US either. After starting 30 years ago in Brazil, PB has spread to over 7,000 cities across the globe. In Paris, France, the mayor puts up five percent of her budget, over 100 million euros, for community members to decide on and shape their city. Globally, PB has been shown to improve public health, reduce corruption and increase trust in government.
E non pasa só nos Estados Unidos. Despois de comezar hai 30 anos en Brasil, os OP chegaron a máis de 7.000 cidades por todo o mundo. En París, Francia, a alcaldía destina o 5% dos seus fondos, máis de 100 millóns de euros, para que os membros da comunidade decidan como mellorar a súa cidade. Mundialmente, os OP axudaron a mellorar a sanidade pública, reducir a corrupción e aumentar a confianza no goberno.
Now we know the challenges that we face in today's society. How can we expect people to feel motivated, to show up to the polls when they can't trust that government is run by and for the people. I argue that we haven't actually experienced true participatory democracy in these United States of America just yet. But democracy is a living, breathing thing. And it's still our birthright. It's time to renew trust, and that's not going to come easy. We have to build new ways of thinking, of talking, of working, of dreaming, of planning in its place. What would America look like if everyone had a seat at the table? If we took the time to reimagine what's possible, and then ask, "How do we get there?"
Coñecemos os desafíos da sociedade actual. Como pretendemos que a xente estea motivada, que participen nas eleccións cando non confían en que o goberno é da xente e para a xente? Coido que aínda non experimentamos a verdadeira democracia participativa nestes Estados Unidos. Mais a democracia é un elemento vivo e palpitante. É o noso dereito de nacemento. É hora de que renovemos a confianza, e non vai ser algo doado. Debemos construír novos modos de pensar, de falar, de traballar, de soñar, de planificar no seu lugar. Como sería America se todos tivésemos un sitio na mesa? Se tomásemos o tempo de reimaxinar as posibilidades, e logo preguntásemos "como podemos nós chegar até aí?"
My favorite author, Octavia Butler, says it best. In "Parable of the Sower," basically my Bible, she says, "All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change." It's time for these 50 states to change. What got us here sure as hell won't get us there. We've got to kick the walls of power down and plant gardens of genuine democracy in their place. That's how we change systems. By opening doors so wide that people can't help but walk in.
A miña autora favorita, Octavia Butler, explícao mellor. N'<i>A Parábola do Sementador</i>, basicamente a miña biblia, di: "Todo o que tocas Cámbialo. Todo o que Cambias Cámbiate. A única verdade eterna É o cambio. Deus É Cambio." É hora de que estes 50 estados cambien. O que nos trouxo até aquí non nos levará até onde queremos. Debemos derrubar as paredes do poder e no seu lugar plantar xardíns de auténtica democracia. Así cambiamos os sistemas. Abrindo tanto as portas que a xente non pode evitar entrar.
So what's stopping you from bringing participatory budgeting to your community?
Logo, que che impide a ti levar os Orzamentos Participativos á túa comunidade?