The January 18th Commission meeting continued to focus on the development of the rulebook for RVAPB. The rulebook is a guide or a design for how participatory budgeting will move forward in Richmond, allowing the commission to shape how the process will impact the city.

The meeting began with a check-in that gives the commission members an opportunity share things that are on their mind. Based on the work of the RVA Charter Review Commission, they talked about the process of reaching out to the community and sharing the work they have been doing. They discussed the importance of educating the community about the work as a way of building interest in the participatory budgeting process.

They then shifted attention to the rulebook. This included just checking in with each commission member to see what had been accomplished and any general thoughts that were coming up. At the end of the year, much of this centered on defining the goals of RVAPB. That has shifted as they consider the values that RVAPB should hold and then how those are manifested in the goals.

After this, they spent time discussing the various sections in detail. Who is the rulebook really for? How do we share the process that is taking place? This then moved onto thinking about the budget section which not only sets out the overarching funding for the project, but gets into how it will be distributed around the city and concerns about making sure projects get completed in a timely manner.

For the remainder of the time, the commission set some goals for completion of the rulebook and their time this Spring.

Finally, the PB Consultant shared some of the work that is being done to create a Communications Plan for the project in partnership with Rhudy and Co. In a recent meeting, they created a timeline for developing visual and language to market RVAPB, but also to think about how we are reaching specific audiences.

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