(BLOOMINGTON) – The City of Bloomington Commission on the Status of Children and Youth and the Youth Participatory Budget Steering Committee are seeking delegates to assist with the Youth Participatory Budgeting Initiative (YPB).
YPB is a democratic process in which young community members decide how to spend part of a municipal budget. Participatory budgeting has been shown to spark an interest among young people in the system and ideals of democracy and to increase the likelihood of their future engagement with local government. In the fall of 2018, the Bloomington Common Council approved Mayor John Hamilton’s proposal to allocate $15,000 within the 2019 budget to a YPB initiative.
“From protesting gun violence in this country to international climate activism, young people are playing an increasingly visible role in influencing policy,” said Mayor John Hamilton. “We value the perspective youth bring to current issues and are creating this opportunity to encourage them to help steer the City — and the world — toward their goals.”
Having been convened in the spring, the YPB Steering Committee is currently seeking delegates who over the next six months will help collect ideas for project proposals, transform the initial ideas into full proposals, work with necessary staff and agencies to determine the feasibility of the proposals, and present the best proposals to the Steering Committee.
Delegates will be selected through an application process and will receive an orientation to learn their required roles. Information about the City of Bloomington Youth Participatory Budgeting Initiative, a timeline, and applications for prospective delegates are available at https://bloomington.in.gov/boards/status-of-children/ypb.
The deadline to submit applications is Thursday, May 16, at noon. Candidates must be current 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th-grade students in any public or private school in Monroe County or may be homeschooled. For additional information, contact Shatoyia Moss, City of Bloomington Safe and Civil City Director at mosss@bloomington.in.gov or by phone at 812-349-3559.
