The New Orleans Citizen Participation Project

It's an exciting time in New Orleans!  Not just because the jasmine and sweet olive are blooming and the weather is not yet sizzling, but because we are just about a month away from inaugurating a new Mayor and (mostly) new City Council, and both branches are going to be much more receptive to community participation than their predecessors.  Here are some highlights.

First, CBNO has been participating in Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell's transition team, thereby ensuring that a very strong recommendation for implementing the Community Participation Program will be in the transition report.  Ms. Cantrell has already committed to implementing the CPP, but embedding it in this document further strengthens that commitment.  Along with CPP implementation, we have succeeded in getting recommendations for the neighborhood boundary mapping (a vital precursor to CPP implementation) and updating the CBNO Neighborhood Manual into the transition report.  All of this really puts the final touches on setting the stage for CPP implementation.

In addition, we have met with most of the incoming City Council members and received their strong commitments for CPP implementation.  We have discussed our proposed process for moving forward with the Council members in considerable detail, since it would be preferable to have it launched from this side, and they are in full accord.  Inauguration day is May 7, and ideally, we will have the legislation to begin the process introduced within a few weeks thereafter.

We have also completed a thorough reconstruction of the New Orleans CPP website, and we invite you to check it out.  The information is updated, and the organization of the site is much more user-friendly.  You can find the NOLA CPP model there, along with considerable background, research and other related information.

Closely related to our CPP work is our work to connect New Orleans residents to the city budgeting process.  This too has involved conversations with the incoming mayor and Council, and this too is going as well as we could possibly imagine.  Mayor-elect Cantrell has been definitive about having our Big Easy Budget Game become an official part of the city's budget process, and the Council members with whom we have spoken are equally supportive.  This level of official support and connectivity should considerably expand the number of people we are able to reach and get to participate.  On top of this, both the transition team staff and several of the Council members have asked us to work with them to redesign certain parts of the budget process in a way that will make it more open and accessible to the community, and will provide additional opportunities for meaningful resident input.

The final piece of icing on the cake is that Mayor-elect Cantrell actually approached CBNO about bringing Participatory Budgeting to New Orleans.  Though we have long advocated for this, the resistance from the current administration was absolute, and we had shifted this further back on our priority list.  To have the new administration reach out to us about it is extraordinary, and truly harkens a new day in community participation in New Orleans.  It will take a while to gear up for PB, so in reality it will be the 2019 budget cycle before it happens; but to think that we could be the first city in the deep south to do Participatory Budgeting is truly inspirational.

We wish this report could be all silver lining and no clouds, but there is one substantial challenge CBNO is facing right now.  It has not escaped certain entrenched powers in our city that we are on verge of really empowering community voice, which sadly is taken as a threat by certain interests.  The result is that we abruptly had a major source of funding cut off from us, and efforts to replace it have thus far been fruitless.  So ironically, just as we are poised to realize the successful completion of work we have been doing for fifteen years, our own survival is at stake.  Just as we have been relentless in pushing for meaningful community voice in the face of strong opposition, we will be equally relentless in fighting for our own future.  That said, any of our friends and supporters who are reading this and are in a position to help us in this fight, your contributions right now are truly needed and greatly appreciated.

Against considerable power and considerable odds, meaningful community participation in New Orleans is at last going to be a reality.  We thank you so much for your support in getting us to this point, and hope you will now assist us in getting this work across the finish line.  Sincere thanks from the NOLA CPP staff!