🎭 After the dance floor, we talked budget.
Thank you to everyone who stayed for the talkback following Homo Economicus! To @_emilybate_ and @obviousagencycoop for creating a space where economics felt, not just explained. And thanks to co-panelist @estebanitos our solidarity economy expert.
Together, we reflected on what it means to “decide together”! Not just in theory, but here in Philadelphia. This is our city budget, which shapes our daily lives.
From the stage to the circle, one thing was clear:
People already understand more than they think: they need access, language, and a way in.
That’s why this work continues.
🗣️ If you haven’t yet, take 5 minutes to fill out our community budget survey (link in bio)
LINK: /survey
🎤 Want to speak directly to City Council tomorrow at 10 AM?
REGISTER LINK: /offering-public-testimony-at-council-public-hearings/
📍 Join us at an upcoming workshop or pop-up to stay in the conversation:
LINK: /events-1
Understanding the system is one thing.
Shaping it together is where it shifts.
Catch the show in its last weekend:
LINK: /e/homo-economicus
In Celina Su’s @cekits book on Budget Justice, she writes about the relationship of the city budget to the right to the city. In this regard @bishopstone and I have been dreaming up what the right to the budget could look like. It is not only the services that make up the city we long to see, but the process by which those services are funded.
What does an equitable budget process look like for Philadelphia? Can it bring forth a more just city that provides for basic needs, public goods, and futures shaped not by capital but by our relationships to one another?
This budget season we are still dreaming of a fully funded city & a budget process that is truly shaped by Philadelphians.
Created as part of my residency @loghavenartistresidency
A few photos from my February residency @loghavenartistresidency
Being in hyper production/ engagement mode - mid budget season - it’s hard to remember the calm and quiet of the residency. It was a beautiful removal from everyday life. I miss the evening fires, communal dinners with the fab 5, gorgeous studio, and supportive staff. Most of all I miss the time to slow down.
It feels odd to post about a residency given the state of the country & world, and some days it felt strange to be there. To be gifted this time. These days when people ask how I am, I don’t know the proper response. But despite it all, I like to think that maybe there is a part of me still tucked away in TN, cocooned from the intensity.
At the Activities Fair in Philadelphia (thank you for hosting @joinphilly & @phillyethics !), we met people from all walks of life: different backgrounds, different priorities, yet with the itch to get involved in fuller, community-based life.
We were thrilled to meet you all & we learned it was some of your first times hearing how the city budget actually gets decided.
We broke down the numbers, walked through the bar graphs, and saw those real-time reactions:
“Wait… that’s where my taxes go?”
That moment when information clicks into understanding is where participation begins.
We were proud to join Committee of Seventy and connect the dots between how city government works and how you can shape it.
If you stopped by, thank you for being in conversation with us.
If you didn’t, no worries~! There’s still time to get involved:
→ Take 5 minutes to share your priorities: ( peoplesbudgetoffice.org/survey )
→ Join us at an upcoming event:
( peoplesbudgetoffice.org/events-1)
→ Want to speak directly to City Hall? Sign up to give public testimony (link coming soon—DM us "TESTIFY" or join our newsletter to be first notified)
This is your city: Let's be loud to learn the process and amp our neighbors' voices.
Meet your panelists for The ThinkPeace: Phoebe Bachman @pbachman (she/they) is a Philadelphia-based artist, facilitator, and curator whose interdisciplinary practice centers economic and criminal justice.
Through mapping, installation, and popular education, they collaborate with artists and communities to make complex systems more visible, accessible, and participatory. Their work creates entry points for deeper understanding and collective engagement.
Their projects have been presented with organizations including Mural Arts Philadelphia, Creative Time, and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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The ThinkPeace is an ideas incubator generated by our city’s residents, students, economic justice advocates, and artists. Inspired by the “think pieces” we encounter online, this program promotes real-life discourse through interactive panels and group activities. Saturday, April 11, 2pm to 5pm
More info and RSVP at the link in our bio!
We just found your lunchtime game & read! Check out @phillyinquirer 's interactive game:
/Ykz1oq
Imagine you were the mayor and have about $7 billion to spend. You get to choose how much you'd allocate in only six sections and also decide how you'll create revenue.
People's Budget Office's Phoebe and Sarah were quoted in the article! They helped give insight during the creation.
Give it a try and let us know how it was for you.
Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye 🎺 Do you run a space, and you're looking for programs to help fill up your calendar? Send us a message with your storefront name, address, and additional information like # of people it can hold, pet and/or child-friendly, & if there are surrounding public transit or a parking lot!
We want to make sure our budget workshops can reach everyone all over Philly!
I just arrived @loghavenartistresidency where I’ll be spending the next month deepening my practice, synthesizing research on @peoplesbudgetoffice (among other threads), and of course resting.
Transparently, it’s hard for me to retreat at this moment with everything going on in the city, country, and abroad. Sadly, the realities of urgency and uncertainty aren’t going anywhere soon. So I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to take a step back now, so I can continue to show up for my communities moving forward.
Thanks to all the folks who make this possible - @bishopstone holding down PBO & enthusiasm about this opportunity, @liliinphilly@okdehmurals@krsilverman for your help with the prison program, @janegoldenmuralarts for helping me get to this point, @ujustgotirvd for continued support & tenderness. And of course there are more people who make up this dense supportive infrastructure - I hope you know how much I appreciate you! 🌟
It's giving... 2009 Digital Camera Prime with the Flash On Era.
Cold weather, heavy sighs over government, yet hopeful sighs of people-powered change.... all of this makes us want to push further for the world/community we want to live in.
Be like The Little Mermaid and come be part of our world? RSVP to our public hearing for equitable hearing: Wednesday Mar 11 from 10 AM - 12 PM at City Hall Room 400 in Philadelphia, PA — Bring your ID!
RSVP for further updates: bit.ly/PBOMar11
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Mark your calendars: March 11.
Equitable budgeting is about transparency, participation, and aligning public investment with real community needs. We’re glad to keep this work moving forward.
RSVP: bit.ly/PBOMar11
