A first in the United States, Boston’s annual participatory budgeting process centred around youths is now in its third year. Initiative Youth Lead the Change involves the city’s (youth (aged 12 – 25) in phases of Boston’s municipal decision-making processes, as committees of ‘change agents’. It was started by former mayor Thomas Meninoin 2014. The process begins with crowdsourcing ideas from around the world during a 2-month phase (more than 700 ideas which were submitted in 2016). A meeting is then held at Boston City Hall, bringing the city’s youth together in committees of ‘change agents’ to select the ideas to develop into city proposals. This is followed by a public vote to allocate the annual budget of US $1m million.
