You decide: Pawtucket and Central Falls vote on favorite projects

Residents at a local Health Opportunity Zone rally promoting the participatory budgeting process last month.

PAWTUCKET/CENTRAL FALLS – All residents of Pawtucket and Central Falls who are at least 14 years old can vote on where they want to see $385,000 spent to improve health in their communities.

Voting through the participatory budgeting process takes place through June 13, according to The Pawtucket Central Falls Health Equity Zone, which has announced the final ballot and voting sites for the Together We Can: Participatory Budgeting project.

Here are the projects:

• Financials for Families (provide free financial literacy classes, one on one coaching, and training to become a financial coach in multiple languages) — Budget: $168,000

• Mental Health: End the Stigma (multi-media campaign to bring awareness to mental health needs for people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds) — Budget: $161,000

• Food with Friends: Live Better, Eat Better (four celebratory cooking events per month) — Budget: $97,000

• Sprinkler Water Park and Outdoor Fitness Park (would fund installation of a free sprinkler water park in Pawtucket and outdoor fitness park in Central Falls) — Budget: $288,000

• Bike Our City (community-designed bike racks, benches and murals painted by youth and artists, and give away 100 free bikes, helmets, and bike locks for children to keep the community safe and healthy) — Budget: $154,000

• Youth Soccer and Academic Support — Budget: $193,000

• Outdoor Learning & Arts at River Island Park — Budget $160,000

• In my Language, I Understand Better! Interpreter Services for All (would fund specialists to help residents get services in Spanish & Cape Verdean Creole, free interpreter training programs for any person in Central Falls and Pawtucket, and handheld interpretation equipment) — Budget: $290,000

• Suds for Hope: Mobile Laundry Truck (provide unhoused and low-income community members with safe, easy access to laundry facilities and resources free of charge) — Budget: $297,000

• Pass the Plate: Life Starts with Healthy Eating (teaching 8th-graders that healthy food is important, affordable, and easy to cook through lessons about nutrition & cooking, providing students recipes, and food samples that they can take home) — Budget: $35,000

• High Schoolers Tutor 1st and 2nd-Graders (tutoring to help students achieve grade-level reading by 3rd grade) — Budget: $141,000

Residents do not need to be a registered voter to have a voice in the process.

Residents can vote for their desired programs online at DecideRI.org or at a vote party planned for this Saturday, June 10, at Tides Family Service, 242 Dexter St. in Pawtucket from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The vote party is a family-friendly event with food and music. Ballots will be available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Voting machines will be provided by Secretary of State Gregg Amore. Additional "pop-up" locations will be located at various locations at various times including at Central Falls City Hall through this Thursday, June 8, from 3-6 p.m., Fogarty Manor, Galego Court, Progreso Latino Food Pantry, the YMCA and more. Residents can access a current list of voting options through www.DecideRI.org.

Residents can vote for up to five projects in this ranked choice voting process.

"As a resident of Central Falls, a parent, and community advocate, The Together We Can participatory budgeting process has allowed us to elevate the voices of the average resident in Central Falls and Pawtucket," said Carlene Fonesca, Central Falls resident and a participatory budgeting facilitator. "PB is giving our residents the opportunity to be active in their community and to have agency in the decision-making process when it comes to spending real money."

The concept of participatory budgeting originated in Brazil in 1989 and has been successfully implemented in U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, and Chicago.Aaccording to a news release, Central Falls was the first city in Rhode Island to launch participatory budgeting in 2019. There are now more than 10,000 participatory budgeting processes around the world, in cities, housing authorities, schools and other public agencies.

The participatory budgeting process started last fall when the Rhode Island Department of Health, in partnership with EOHHS, allocated federal funding to two Health Equity Zones to conduct a pilot program to improve health outcomes by engaging residents to identify issues, develop programs and vote on the programs to be funded. Last fall, Pawtucket and Central Falls residents submitted more than 600 ideas through community meetings, drop boxes, and online through DecideRI.org. From January to May, more than 30 residents took those ideas and worked together on committees to develop the 11 projects for the ballot.

"We have 11 amazing projects that came from community members, and now residents will decide which projects they want to see come to life to make our cities healthier," said Fonseca. The projects that win the most votes, up to $385,000, will be funded.

"These are the kinds of actions that will help ensure that every person has a chance to live their highest potential, regardless of race, class, sex, gender, disability status, or ZIP code," said Assistant Secretary Ana Novais, of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Pop-up voting is available at Forand Manor, Central Falls High School, Galego Court, Shower to Empower, and the Progreso Latino Food Pantry.

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