RVAPB this week got very real. We had our first review of material from our communications partner at Rhudy and Co. They brought some unique language and designs that will give this work an identity in the community.

But before that a few updates:

On April 15th, Addie and Matthew sat down with the local Virginia Organizing Chapter to do our first RVAPB Workshop. We introduced them to RVAPB and then walked them through the PB process. Also with VO’s commitment to inclusivity, we had both Spanish and ASL interpretation. This reinforced a greater commitment to language justice in our work. But, we also go amazing feedback.

Also RVAPB has been include in People Powered Rising Stars Mentorship Program. People Power is global ngo supporting democracy. They will be helping us to implement both some technology and bringing creativity to our work.

Lastly, Matthew will be presenting on 4/26 to the City of Richmond Government Operations standing committee. This will be an opportunity to engage City Council on a deeper level and share the work of the commission.

Now back to the fun stuff:

Rhudy and Co shared a bunch of language, names, taglines, and logos with the commission (see below). The commission spent much of this meeting responding and thinking through this information. A big conversation centered on a name that would resonate with people. Participatory Budgeting can be hard to say. So what about People’s Budget or Opportunity Budget? Also a logo that was both playful and expressed the values of the project. The Commission tended to like the piggy bank, the hand, and the talk bubbles. Lastly, we were thinking about a tagline. Your City/Your Money or Your City/Your Ideas/Your Voice. In the coming weeks we will be thinking more about this.

Lastly, we talked about how we are going to wrap up the rulebook that has been the core of the Commission’s work. A major focus is on coming up with a good answer to how $3million will be distributed around the community. But we also have to think about how we are going to assess our goals with specific metrics. Also, continue to clarify the process. At the moment our hope is to have this done by mid May.

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