City of Cambridge Announces Winning Projects for 12th Participatory Budgeting Cycle

The City of Cambridge has announced the results for the twelfth Participatory Budget (PB) process. Nine projects in total were selected after 10,172 Cambridge residents age 12 and older voted how to spend $1 million on capital and operating projects to improve the community.

In order of ranked votes, the following nine projects won $1,032,000 in funding:

Fixing Sidewalks, Saving Trees ($100,000)
More Complete Streets ($200,000)
Transportation Assistance Services ($50,000)
Cold and Wet Weather Kits ($60,000)
Rain and Pollinator Gardens ($100,000)
Supporting Continuous Access to School Supplies ($12,000)
Residential Rat Control ($110,000)
Concrete Barriers for Bike Lanes ($150,000)
Basketball Court Upgrades ($250,000)

"We're grateful to once again see such strong community participation in this year's Participatory Budgeting cycle," said Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang. "Following an increasingly comprehensive process of idea collection to formal proposals, the projects chosen by residents clearly reflect what matters most to people across the City-from improving our shared spaces to advancing street infrastructure, strengthening health and safety, and expanding access for families and young people. To ensure all nine selected proposals can move forward, we allocated additional funding, and we're excited about the lasting benefits these initiatives will bring to Cambridge."

Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process where community members can vote to decide how to spend part of a public budget. The goal of Participatory Budgeting is to directly involve residents in City budgeting, encourage civic engagement, foster community spirit, and help ensure that the City of Cambridge capital and operations plan reflects the priorities of Cambridge residents.

"Participatory Budgeting is one of the clearest ways we bring residents into real decision-making," said Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui. "Each cycle, people across Cambridge come together to put forward ideas and choose projects that reflect what matters in their communities. I'm proud we're continuing to grow this process and reach more people every year."

Expanded on-the-ground outreach was led this year by the City's Budget Office in collaboration with the Civic Outreach Squad from the City's Office of Communications & Community Engagement, as well as the Community Engagement Teams at the Community Development Department and the Department of Human Service Programs, the Cambridge Public Schools, and volunteers.

Community partners also encouraged participation with neighborhood associations, business associations, non-profit organizations and service providers, affordable housing communities, and others supporting this effort.

Idea collection workshops were held at Cambridge public schools, public fall events, housing communities, and library branches. Further promotion of the initiatives was conducted online through e-newsletters, print and digital flyers, social media, news media, website listings, and two citywide print mailings. Language justice continued to be prioritized, and Participatory Budgeting materials were translated and accessible in nine different languages, helping reach a broader, more diverse audience.

Between September through October 2025, community members submitted over 1,100 PB ideas for consideration in-person, online, via email, by mail, and over the phone. Between October 2025 and February 2026, nearly 80 volunteer PB Delegates researched and developed the submitted ideas into formal project proposals. During the proposal development process, PB delegates worked in committees and met with City staff to evaluate each projects relative need, impact, and feasibility, including cost estimates, and consolidated the idea list down to the final 20 project proposals that were on the March Participatory Budgeting ballot.

From March 5-15, 2026, voting was made accessible online, as well as offered over the telephone and in-person at various community locations, including public library branches and housing communities. More than 1,000 students in grades 6-12 voted across Cambridge and nearly every upper school student (grades 6-8) voted at designated school voting days simulating real election procedures.

Since the inaugural process in 2014, the City of Cambridge has collected over 11,000 ideas and committed over $11 million to over 80 Participatory Budgeting projects across 12 cycles.

To learn more, please visit pb.cambridgema.gov.