L.A. REPAIR Participatory Budgeting

The Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgment of Institutional Racism (L.A. REPAIR) is L.A.'s first participatory budget pilot program. L.A. REPAIR will distribute roughly $8.5 million directly to nine L.A. City neighborhoods, called REPAIR Zones.

Voting is now open for three REPAIR Zones:

  • Boyle Heights
  • Mission Hills - Panorama City - North Hills
  • Southeast Los Angeles

The vote will be open from April 1-30, 2023. You can either vote online at any time or in person at a voting event hosted by the City, the REPAIR Zone Advisory Committee or Community Engagement Partner.

To be eligible to vote, you must be 15+ years old and live, work, study, or be the guardian of a student in the REPAIR Zone.

Select your REPAIR Zone to learn how to vote and read the proposals on the ballot:

Boyle Heights

Boyle Heights
Mission Hills - Panorama City - North Hills

Mission Hills - Panorama City - North Hills
Southeast LA

Southeast LA

What is Participatory Budgeting?

Participatory Budgeting is about giving real people real power over real money.

Overview of the 6 steps in the participatory budgeting process.

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget.

PB started in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1989, as an anti-poverty measure that helped reduce child mortality by nearly 20%. Since then PB has spread to over 7,000 cities around the world, and has been used to decide budgets from states, counties, cities, housing authorities, schools, and other institutions.

Cities like New York, Chicago and Oakland have all used some form of participatory budgeting to shape their city budget. The L.A. REPAIR pilot program dedicates $8.5 million toward participatory budgeting in nine underserved communities. Click here to learn more about how Participatory Budgeting works.

The L.A. REPAIR Zones

Type in your address at the top of the map to find out if you live in a REPAIR Zone!

  1. Arleta - Pacoima
  2. Mission Hills - Panorama City - North Hills
  3. Westlake
  4. West Adams - Baldwin Village - Leimert Park
  5. Skid Row
  6. Boyle Heights
  7. Southeast LA (South LA east of the 110 Fwy)
  8. South Los Angeles
  9. Wilmington + Harbor Gateway

Participatory Budgeting is Designed To:

Deepen Democracy

Increase the volume, quality, and longevity of residents’ engagement in city governance.

Expand Transparency

Improve trust in government and accountability in budgeting decisions.

Emphasize Public Ownership of Government Resources

Direct available resources in a manner which residents feel is most urgently needed; trust grassroots groups to manage projects.

 

Build Stronger Communities

Connect funding to community based organizations and local context by incorporating on-the-ground community knowledge ー improving chances of successful and sustained outcomes that matter most to people.