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Long Beach youth submit 495 ideas and cast 1,744 votes in Youth Power participatory budgeting; $550,000 set for summer programs
Summary
The city celebrated the 10th anniversary of participatory budgeting in Long Beach and reported a major increase in youth engagement: 495 ideas collected, 25 advanced to proposal development and 1,744 votes cast in the current Youth Power PB cycle for $550,000 in youth funding.
Long Beach officials and youth organizers celebrated the city’s 10th year of participatory budgeting on April 22, reporting a sharp rise in youth engagement for the third year of the youth‑led program.
Giselle Becerra Murillo of the Youth Leadership Institute told the City Council that, this year, youth events across the city collected 495 project ideas. A youth steering committee selected 25 ideas to advance to the proposal‑development stage, where nonprofit partners helped turn proposals into voter choices. Organizers said 104 youth and organizational participants took part in developing proposals and, as of the morning of the council meeting, 1,744 votes had been cast in the Youth Power participatory budget ballot — roughly triple the voting total from year two.
Princeton (last name not specified in transcript) and Kaisha Hearns, youth leaders with the Invest in Youth Coalition and Youth Leadership Institute, described hands‑on civic education benefits: young people ran idea‑collection events, created proposals and served as facilitators. Council and mayoral remarks marked the initiative’s growth from a neighborhood pilot in 2014 in Council District 9 to a citywide program that gives young people direct control over a $550,000 public fund for youth summer programs.
Mayor Rex Richardson and other councilmembers praised the program for boosting civic participation and supplying both grants and workforce pathways; City staff noted the Office of Youth Development recently hired a full‑time youth development coordinator to manage the expanded PB effort.
Organizers and student leaders said the program’s value goes beyond the dollar amount: it provides civic education, builds leadership skills, and gives youth a tangible role in budgeting priorities. The program will use the forthcoming votes to allocate $550,000 for youth programming slated for summer 2025.
