Financial Planning

Financial Planning form for WGs

Instructions/Intro Memo (in prep for 2/10 meeting) PLEASE READ the info below, and send back the above form or email the info.

Meeting 2/10, noon, Diesel Cafe Union Square

Invitation to participate in preparatory meetings on Participatory Budgeting and to attend an agenda brainstorming meeting with Professor Green (Visiting Scholar at North Eastern Law School, Rights Based Approach practitioner) next Friday 2/10 in Central Square (location to be determined upon numbers of participants).

I am sending this announcement to individuals who represent a diverse number of working groups. We are presently building synergy between working groups so that FAWG is not the only driving force behind the participatory budgeting initiative (re: conversation at FAWG yesterday with Renee).

This will allow for full participation and greater support. I think it is important that we move ahead slowly to build success and allow for representation in the preparatory meetings of OB's diverse population! This would necessitate pushing back the date of our workshop. I don't think that there would be enough time in between otherwise.

We see the first workshop as a participatory strategic planning forum focusing on the identification of needs and priorities with plans of action. The second will be to identity allocation of resources to make it happen. Afterwards monitoring and evaluation to measure the success in meeting agreed upon strategic goals and allocations.

Please see attached power point for an introduction to the methodology! This was presented at the GA along with FAWG's 2011 financials.

Please read: Participatory budgets: a tool for a participatory democracy http://nccr-ns.epfl.ch/autres_rech/UrbaNews/Urbanews7/UrbaNews_7_en.pdf

Participatory budgeting is direct democracy. These are revolutionary ways to make governments (and movements) more accountable to the people!

Thanks,

Rita

I will send along more readings as I find them.

-- Rita Monestersky- Sebastian Brandeis, MA SID' 2009

Occupy Boston Participatory Budget Creation Form 2 January 2012

This is another form offered as a tool that WG’s might want to use as they engage with the participatory budget process. The time allocations are arbitrary and appear only to illustrate a set of possibilities. Use what you like and leave the rest.

1. How/why did this WG start? (10 mins) What has it done since it started? (10 mins) Who is part of it now and what do each one of us bring to the table in terms of aspirations and skill-sets?(15 mins - or 2 mins per person)

2. If we could have the world the way we want it or as we see it needs to be, in terms of the focus of this WG, what would it look like in 10 years? ( 2 mins per person) In 5 years? ( 2 mins per person) In one year? (4 mins per person)

3. What elements of our vision for one year from now can we agree on?( 15 mins)

4. What steps can we, as this WG, take to create that vision in the coming 12 months? (15 mins) Which of those steps do we want to commit to taking? (20 mins)

5. What resources are needed to take those steps? (15 mins) Put those on the budget worksheet to bring to The OB Participatory Budget Summit.

6. How can we as a WG help to get the resources we will need for the coming year? (15 mins) Put that on the budget worksheet too. I just roughed this out (and totally pulled the time allocations out of the air) so it doesn't have to be what we use, but I think something comparable, where a kind of agenda or process is offered for how to approach the budget created, is crucial, should be included and walked through as part of the power point and printed on sheets for folks to take away.

In presenting this, it is important to stress the importance of getting through all the steps and so moving briskly through them so as not to get bogged down. If it would be helpful, FAWG members and perhaps members of Facilitation WG will be available to help facilitate WG's with this or another process of their choosing.