Pawtucket, Central Falls, Providence VOTE on how to invest $1.38M in health improvement

Participatory Budgeting Proposal Fairs were held for members of the public and now 3 communities will have the opportunity to vote on community designed potential projects in Pawtucket, Central Falls, and central Providence. $1.38 million is up for investment in health improvement projects in these communities.

Pawtucket/Central Falls residents vote from May 30th to June 13th: Decide how to spend $385,000 to improve health and well-being in Pawtucket & Central Falls.

Central Providence (02908/02909) residents vote from June 6th to June 20th: Decide how to spend $1,000,000 to improve health and well-being.

This project is an initiative by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and Rhode Island’s Health Equity Zones (HEZ). 

Projects will focus on the environmental and social conditions that impact the health of residents in Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Central Providence. Proposals range from infrastructure improvements at parks to purchasing and distributing high-quality air filters for residents with Asthma.   

While Medicaid funded Participatory Budgeting is unique, Participatory Budgeting originated in Brazil in 1989 and has been successful in more than 10,000 places around the world. Central Falls was the first city in Rhode Island to use the Participatory Budgeting process in 2019.

For more information on program opportunities, go to: DecideRI.org. 

Implementation of the winning proposals will be funded by the Medicaid Health Systems Transformation Project, and Blue Meridian Partners. 

See the projects you will have an opportunity to vote on:

Pawtucket/Central Falls – HERE: https://decideri.org/processes/pcf/f/5/budgets/1/projects

Providence (Large projects) – HERE: https://decideri.org/processes/cpo/f/9/budgets/3/projects

Providence (Small projects) – HERE: https://decideri.org/processes/cpo/f/25/budgets/4/projects

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Granted, the process may seem simple for coordinators of the project, but we’ve had feedback that the process is lengthy, complicated, and confusing! If you are in these areas, we encourage you to vote, and let us know how you found the process!

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What is Participatory Budgeting? It is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It’s a tool to empower everyone to make decisions about how funds should be spent in our communities.

Participatory Budgeting involves a series of steps: 1) Community members brainstorm and submit ideas; 2) A smaller group of community members develop ideas into project proposals; 3) Project proposals are voted on by the whole community; 4) Projects selected get carried out in the community