The Richmond People's Budget, a participatory budgeting pilot that gives residents a role in selecting capital projects, will put district-level project proposals to ranked vote from April 1 through April 15, organizers told the Richmond City Council's Organizational Development Standing Committee.

Leliana Delgado, civic engagement coordinator in the City Council chief of staff's office, said the pilot aims to allocate $3 million in FY26 capital funding across the city's nine districts. The steering commission used the RVA 2050 social-vulnerability map to guide distribution so that higher-need areas receive larger dollar shares. Under the pilot's funding structure, organizers said district allocations will range from a base $200,000 to larger shares (example figures cited by staff included $300,000 and $500,000 amounts for higher-need districts); staff said exact per-district allocations and the ballot for each district are available from the People's Budget office and will be published before voting begins.

How the process worked and who participated

Delgado said idea-collection began in September and yielded over 1,900 community suggestions, gathered both in person and online. Residents aged 14 and older who live, work or study in Richmond are eligible to participate; 'worker' was defined as anyone who works within city limits.

Budget delegates: the steering commission selected three budget delegates per district from 70 applicants; delegates researched and turned community ideas into feasible capital proposals. Delgado said each district will put roughly 10'15 projects on the ballot.

Voting and implementation

Voting will be conducted both in person and online from April 1 to April 15 with ranked-choice ballots that allow voters to prioritize up to three projects. Winning projects will be added to the City's CIP for funding and then move into the procurement and implementation phases. Organizers also plan evaluation and refinement after implementation, with a second VCU-led assessment planned to report on Phase 2.

VCU early evaluation: enthusiasm and recommendations

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University presented Phase 1 of an independent evaluation. Dr. Britney Keegan of the VCU Wilder School and Dr. Victor Chen of the College of Humanities and Sciences said early survey (63 responses) and focus-group results suggest strong enthusiasm: 77% of respondents said they feel their perspectives are valued in the PB process, 80% agreed PB strengthened their relationship with city government and 64% rated their experience as good or excellent. The evaluation also identified opportunities: respondents urged broader outreach, more transparent feedback to participants, and consideration of expanding the scope to include maintenance or essential services in future cycles.

Council discussion and administrative details

Council members praised the engagement and asked for operational details. Delgado said the administrative budget for the People's Budget pilot is $150,000 (for logistics, materials and direct program costs); Delgado said one full-time staffer (Delgado) is devoted primarily to the program while other council-office staff contributors allocate a portion of their time to PB work. Delegates received one-time stipends for their proposal-development work, Delgado said.

Next steps and requests from council

Delgado asked council members to help identify voting locations across districts and to continue supporting the program in upcoming budget deliberations to secure the $3 million in FY26 funding and sustain future cycles. VCU researchers said Phase 2 will focus on implementation feedback and longer-term outcome measures, and they will return with a follow-up report once voting and project selection are complete.

Ending

Organizers said ballots and full district proposal lists will be published ahead of the April 1 voting start. Committee members requested a detailed organizational chart and a breakdown of the PB administrative budget for distribution to council.