Have you ever wanted to see a unique event offered or exciting new use of space promoted at Hunter College, but weren’t sure how to implement it? Have you ever wished that you had more of a voice in what goes on at your school? What better way is there to serve the student body than to let the student body serve itself? Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process by which everyday people within a community get to choose how a portion of the public budget is spent. It is a program that has its roots in Latin America during the late 1980s, but has taken hold in cities and institutions around the globe, including 24 Council districts in New York City. Participatory Budgeting also exists at Brooklyn College, where each year, students have a direct say over the use of $1 million of the school's budget. These decisions are made through a series of meetings, drafting sessions, and finally, a vote. This process helps a community understand, plan, and allocate a budget, as well as have a greater voice in their local government, economy, and living spaces. It’s a system proven to work in places such as Sunnyside, Queens, where the community has chosen to install solar-panels on street lights to make their neighborhood safer and more accessible, and in East Harlem, where long-overdue maintenance and extensions to public schools and senior centers were approved through the program.

Wouldn't it feel better to pay your student fees knowing that you a had significant control over where it was going? Would we need to worry so much about the dangerous potential of misused funds and unused funds if students themselves had direct oversight over a significant portion of the budget? This level of empowerment could change Hunter College for the better and create a better community for all that walk within its walls. PB is as transparent as transparent gets, and provides access for all students to a portion of the school's economic decision-making power.

Student Organization for Democratic Alternatives, a student based group with roots in Queens College, CUNY, has been heavily involved in encouraging the spread of PB in New York City. SODA members have worked closely with NYC District Offices to coordinate PB programs in different communities across the City, and built relationships with the students and faculty who made PB a reality at Brooklyn College. Organizers at Queens College are attempting to engage the QC Student Government to enact PB in tandem with our efforts at Hunter. SODA, in line with its values, is a horizontally structured group that supports democracy on the inside as well as the outside. It is open to any and all students who want to see greater community control of the political and economic decisions that affect all of our lives. Participatory Budgeting is one way at moving closer towards this democratic ideal.

By signing this petition, you would be adding your voice to a growing chorus of Hunter College students who are asking USG to allocate 15% of their events budget to a PB fund. This money will be used to finance student-crafted proposals that end up on the PB ballot and receive the most votes. Once Hunter USG agrees to set aside these funds, a procedure similar to that listed below will be proposed for implementation:

- Month 1 (Pitching): Any student with an idea for a proposed project is encouraged to submit a brief outline either through a paper or online form, or by attending one of several “pitching sessions” to be held at various locations around the Hunter College campus. Ideas will be collected and categorized by USG staff, with the support of SODA members under the guidance of the Participatory Budgeting Project. Be creative with your project proposals! Anything is welcome for suggestion, whether it be a special event, a minor repair, or a new edition to a public space in Hunter!

- Month 2 (Vetting): Students are encouraged to volunteer to serve as budget delegates. They will be charged with facilitating the remainder of the process. In this stage, budget delegates will vet out proposal outlines by analyzing them based on a set of indices developed by the Participatory Budgeting Project that take into account the necessity, scope, cost and presumed impact of each particular proposed project. After this initial vetting, the remaining proposals will be reviewed by USG to ensure their implementability. The remaining proposal outlines (there should be 15-20) go on to the next round.

- Month 3 (drafting): The remaining proposal outlines must now be developed into full proposals by the budget delegates. Students will come together in delegation meetings to decide how exactly the proposed project will be carried out. Members of USG will be present to ensure the efficacy of proposals and to gain a better understanding of how students want particular projects to be undertaken. The drafting process is a fully collaborative one between budget delegates, USG members, and other students. Each finalized proposal must contain a one-page abstract outlining the rationale, course of action, and cost for the desired project.

- Month 4 (voting): Abstracts of the final proposals will be posted online and will be available for viewing in the USG office. Students will have opportunities at a Q&A session to talk to Budget Delegates and USG members about the different proposals. This will culminate in a vote, where any Hunter College student may “upvote” a handful (probably around 4-5) of projects. The votes will be tallied at the end of the week. The project with the most votes will be approved, and so will each successive project until the PB fund has been exhausted.

- Months 5+ (implementation): Budget delegates and USG will work together to ensure that the projects are adequately implemented. Since PB is a budgetary program, not a grant system, USG will be in charge of actually implementing the projects, but student support and assistance is expected and welcomed.

We are encouraging those who want to see PB at Hunter College in the future to sign this petition. PB will allow students to engage with each other in a meaningful and constructive way - something that many express is a much needed element at Hunter College. Through the process, students will be able to have more power within the school, and our collective relationship with USG will be transformed into one of greater cooperation, and shared power. PB: real money, real power, real change.

For more information on SODA, go to www.soda.coop

For more information on the Participatory Budgeting Project, go to www.participatorybudgeting.org