Councillor Moise is excited to bring Participatory Budgeting to Ward 13, Toronto Centre, following the lead of my colleague Councillor Carroll who has successfully run participatory budgeting in her ward since 2015, funding 21 projects and counting.

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a system of direct democracy where residents suggest and then vote on how funds are spent within their community.

Each year, different neighbourhoods will be selected based on available Community Benefits Funds, the capacity of city staff and my team, and active capital projects already underway.

In Toronto Centre, we have 14 neighbourhoods, so we have divided the ward into four clusters of neighbourhoods to ensure we can properly manage and facilitate local processes as well as complete the successful projects in a timely manner.

This year, there is $750,000 available for neighbourhood enhancements within each cluster. My team and I will facilitate a Participatory Budgeting process in the following neighbourhoods:

 Cluster 5 - East of Bay Street, South of Queen Street, North of The Esplanade, West of Parliament Street

• St. Lawrence

This year, we are introducing a hybrid idea submission system where everything that is written on the in-person submission card will be scanned and submitted onto our platform.