PB11 Facilitator - City of Cambridge Budget Office

The City of Cambridge Budget Office is seeking facilitators to work with committees of volunteer Participatory Budgeting Delegates through the 11 th Participatory Budgeting (PB11) proposal development process. PB is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of the City’s budget. During the proposal development process, the volunteer PB Delegates review and refine ideas submitted by the public into project proposals to be voted on by Cambridge residents. Facilitators do not need to be Cambridge residents.

Meeting commitments include a virtual orientation for facilitators on Thursday, September 26 (6 PM), an in-person orientation for PB Delegates and facilitators on Tuesday, October 1 from 6 PM – 8 PM, which will be run by City staff, taking place at the Main Library. In the weeks that follow, each committee will meet weekly for 1.5-2 hours (6-8 PM on Wednesday nights), and facilitators will likely need to spend one additional hour each week doing meeting prep/follow up (sending email reminders, etc.). The weekly meetings end in mid-December 2024 when the committees submit final proposals to City staff. We ask that they reconvene one more time at the end of January 2025 to tweak final proposal language for the ballot. If committees are unable to meet the tentative deadlines, there may be additional meetings in January to allow them enough time to finish the deliverables. Meetings may be conducted in a hybrid format connecting both in-person and Zoom participants, although this could change during the proposal delegate process to meet delegate needs.

The facilitator’s role is to be a neutral party who guides committees through this process and keeps them organized and on track. Facilitators are not permitted to advocate for or align with their preferred projects, they must remain objective and neutral. Facilitators are expected to help ensure that everyone on the committee can contribute in the way they feel most comfortable, that all delegates have the space to make their voices heard, and that no one gets lost in the process. Though committee meetings are rarely contentious, compromise and debate are necessary processes. As deliberations are made, facilitators help keep dialogue productive, on track, and importantly, respectful, while ensuring all voices are equally heard. The facilitator will also help the committees ensure the work reflects the actual wishes of their members, as well as the overall goals of Participatory Budgeting.

Budget staff will support facilitators throughout the process and will hold check-in meetings with facilitators at various stages. A “Participatory Budgeting Delegate Guide” with benchmarks and tools for the proposal development process is provided, which staff will review with facilitators to help them plan agendas for committee meetings, although committees are allowed to develop their own approaches. A significant amount of the proposal development work will be done in Google Docs/Sheets, so it is essential that facilitators are familiar with this system. Support staff will be available to help manage meetings and provide technical support, if necessary.

Facilitators will be paid a $1,300 stipend towards the end of the proposal development stage in January 2025.

If you have questions, please reach out to mliu@cambridgema.gov or by phone 617-349-7253. Melissa Liu Participatory Budgeting and Engagement Coordinator mliu@cambridgema.gov | 617-349-7253