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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.

Coming soon: Grant Guidelines will be released in October! 

Now that Idea Collection has ended, the next step is Proposal Development. Nonprofit and community-based organizations with a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor are invited to submit their proposals in response to the ideas submitted by the community. The L.A. REPAIR Grant Guidelines will include all the details about eligibility, evaluation criteria, and how to submit a proposal. 

Sign up for our L.A. REPAIR newsletter to be one of the first notified about the release of the Grant Guidelines. 

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What is Participatory Budgeting?

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. Click here to learn more about how Participatory Budgeting works.

The L.A. REPAIR Participatory Budgeting pilot program dedicates $8.5 million of City funding to nine underserved communities to decide how it should be spent on programs that serve the community. 

Overview of the 6 steps in the participatory budgeting process.
Map of REPAIR Zones

The REPAIR Zones

The L.A. REPAIR pilot program is in the following nine communities:

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

Three REPAIR Zones completed the participatory process in Spring 2023, and the remaining six REPAIR Zones (highlighted green) started in Summer 2023. 

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.