2023 Budget Demands & Call to Action
(Posted June 2, 2023)
Our demands for the budget
1. No new funds for MNPD ($16 million proposed)
2. Dedicate that $16 million to a citywide Participatory Budgeting (PB) process for 2024
3. Give full control of the PB process to a department independent from the Mayor’s Office, such as the Metro Human Relations Commission
Call to Action
(1) Endorse our demands as an individual and/or as an organization.
(2) Join us to testify at the annual Budget Hearing on June 6, at 6:30 pm, City Hall to tell Council how fulfilling these demands will improve your life! (Gather outside council chambers at 6:00 pm.) Register here to let us know you’re coming!
Here are 5 reasons why we’re demanding no new funds for MNPD and $16 million for Participatory Budgeting
1. MNPD “calls for service” plummet year after year, yet MNPD funding continues to skyrocket.
Nashvillians interact with police less than half as much as they did in 2016. Approximately 80% of all calls in 2022 were for non-criminal matters, while only 5% of all calls were for explicitly violent situations. Property offenses, which are direct manifestations of wealth inequality, accounted for 20% of all calls.
2. MNPD produces fewer tangible public safety outcomes every year, yet MNPD funding continues to skyrocket.
Police respond after a crime has already taken place. At least 75% of all calls for service in 2022 resulted in no tangible public safety outcome whatsoever. Only 2% of all calls for service resulted in citation or arrest.
3. MNPD currently has 137 funded and unfilled positions, totaling at least $13 million in excess funds.
Forty new officers are slated to join MNPD by August, but many positions will remain unfilled. The ongoing trend of officers resigning also promises to continue. Meanwhile, other departments providing crucial, life-sustaining goods and services are asked to make sacrifices year after year.
4. MNPD has received a total of $42 million in new funds over the last three years—more money than they can even use.
Even with an abundance of perpetually unfilled positions, plummeting calls for service, and diminishing returns on our “public safety” investment, MNPD receives millions in new funds each budget cycle, and millions more through supplemental allocations between budget cycles.
5. When well-executed, Participatory budgeting is a radically democratic way to reclaim public funds to make safe & thriving communities.
Metro’s current participatory budgeting (PB) process suffers from inadequate funding, inaccessibility, & burdensome control by the mayor. Control of the PB process must be transferred from the mayor to an independent, equity-focused department such as the Metro Human Relations Commission.
If you agree, (1) endorse our demands & (2) let us know you plan to testify at the budget hearing on June 6!
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If you plan to testify on June 6, please be sure to:
(1) lift up our demands & narrate in personal detail how meeting these demands will positively impact your life & your community
(2) write out & practice your remarks in advance as you will have only 2 min to speak.
The safest communities are not the ones with the most police but the ones with abundant public goods and resources.
Black, Indigenous, working class, and unhoused Nashvillians have been left behind for far too long. It’s past time to build a Nashville for all of us!
Participatory Budgeting | Radical Proposal Writing Party
(Posted May 22, 2023)
We are hosting a virtual space on Wednesday, May 24, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. to develop and submit radical proposals for Nashville’s participatory budgeting (PB) process. Join us to learn more about the process and to help us further radicalize & democratize it by submitting proposals that benefit our communities! Bring a friend, bring a comrade, bring your organization! Register here.
What is participatory budgeting?
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process in which community members democratically determine how to allocate public money. It originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989 as a socialist experiment in participatory democracy, and has since spread around the world and across the US.
After years of pressure, Metro Nashville has allocated nearly $10 million in one-time funds to a citywide PB process. Community members are proposing projects for potential funding and will vote on the top projects in December. The deadline for submitting proposals online is June 1.
Why are we doing this?
PB is an inherently radical & democratic process. Unfortunately, Metro’s PB process suffers from inadequate funding, inaccessibility, & burdensome control by the mayor’s office. We are intervening in order to help build momentum toward a PB process true to its radical roots.
NPBC is committed to building a Nashville not just for developers and a wealthy few, but for all of us. When carried out in truly democratic ways, PB is one step toward making that a reality. Our virtual event is not a formal collaboration with Metro Nashville government.
Register for our radical proposal writing event today and share with your people!
Finally, stay tuned for more information coming later this week about our demands for the budget process and upcoming actions in support of them!
2023 Candidate Survey
(Posted July 24, 2023)
The Nashville People’s Budget Coalition recently distributed a survey to all candidates for Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Metro Council covering topics of Metro budgeting, governance, and public safety. The full results may be accessed here.
Most questions follow a yes/no or yes/no/maybe format. Some candidates took the opportunity to explain their answers in the final open-ended question.
Note: If a candidate’s responses do not appear, they did not complete the survey.
Early voting lasts until July 29. Election day is August 3. More info can be found here.
General Interest Meetings!
(Posted February 2, 2023)
The Nashville People’s Budget Coalition is now a member-based organization! We are holding interest meetings to share about our history, our present, and how you can contribute as a member to our shared future!
What does a member do? NPBC members will be equipped to build relationships and power in their neighborhood and council district by organizing neighbors around the challenges they face, all with the support of fellow members and leaders.
The goal is to build a safe and thriving Nashville for all, which requires an abundance of affordable housing, expansive transit, fully-funded education, living wages, violence prevention, non-police crisis response, health care, libraries, parks, and much more.
Endless funding for cops, courts, and cages inhibits our safety and wellbeing by looting funds that could otherwise resource our collective wellbeing through social goods, violence prevention, and effective crisis response. Instead, Nashville serves and protects a few at the expense of many. It doesn’t have to be this way.
How do we build a Nashville for all? By building neighborhood and district-based associations, assemblies, and other people-powered decision-making bodies that shift power to shape the budget and improve our material conditions.
Building a safer, more abundant Nashville for all starts with building relationships of solidarity in our own neighborhoods and with our own people. Join us on February 13 or 16 to learn more about how you can join in this critical community-building work!
We are a multiracial collective striving to build multiracial people power for a world of safety and abundance beyond cops, courts, cages, and the racial capitalism they uphold. If you share our vision and purpose, join us!
Go here to register for our in-person (February 13) or virtual (February 16) meeting. Let’s build together!
Nashville People's Budget Coalition 