MONEY MANAGERS
Teens take part in inaugural budget council
Sitting around a century-old Walnut table in a room historically referred to as “the Mayor’s Conference Room,” students ages 13 to 17 peppered Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto with questions.
“Are you doing anything to preserve the culture in East Liberty that is fading away?” asked Nia Arrington, 17, who lives in Westwood and attends the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts magnet school Downtown.
“What is being done in neighborhoods that have not had a real market district, maybe never?” asked CAPA student Emiliano Siegert-Wilkinson, 14, of Marshall-Shadeland. “The only interesting thing in my neighborhood is the next neighborhood over and the Exxon down the street.”
Nia and Emiliano are two of the 16 high school students who will decide the fate of a small portion of Pittsburgh’s 2018 capital budget.
The inaugural Youth Participatory Budget Council started with a boot camp this week. Students attended a council meeting, hung out with Mr. Peduto
and met with community leaders.
Students even saw the vault where the original book of city ordinances from 1816 is kept. They whipped out their smartphones to capture photos of the hefty collection of yellowed pages.
“I’m hoping that the kids will have a better understanding of city government and that they see and learn how to prioritize money in our city budget,” said Corey O’Connor, Pittsburgh City Council member. Mr. O’Connor’s office is spearheading the program. “I also hope to learn from them. They’re a group that doesn’t get a voice all that much.”
Mr. O’Connor said the amount of money that the students can work with is being debated and that his office is aiming to get matching funds from the mayor’s office and private foundations.
The mayor’s office has not released a final financial commitment yet.
Mr. Peduto told the students that their meeting was “refreshing.” In a later written response, he said the program offers “tremendous value in giving young members of our community the opportunity to learn about the important functions of municipal government and discover ways we can better serve the residents of our city.”
The city’s 2017 capital budget reached just over $74 million. The 2018 budget will be drafted by September.
The students will meet Wednesday evenings until November, when they must decide how they’d like to see the city spend the money.
“They’re going to present in front of council, which will be unique,” Mr. O’Connor said.
Carlow University professors and SLB Productions, which produces the Saturday Light Brigade youth radio program, are working with Mr. O’Connor’s office to train the students in group process, presentation skills and advocacy strategies.
“The boot camp this week has a couple of purposes,” said Jennifer Snyder-Duch, an associate professor of communication at Carlow. “It’s to bond, but also to get them thinking about the process of social change, how government works, and even down to the nitty gritty, like how to do research. Ultimately, they’ll do in city council what they’ll have practiced here.”
Sofar this week, the studentshave brainstormed twodozen ideas they might liketo see their budget allowancecover. Their ideas includedthe introduction of acity-wide teen program, fundingfor public school programsand access to nutritious food trucks.
The students — the majority from CAPA, but a few from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, Seton La Salle Catholic High School and a few charter schools — joined for a number of reasons, from wanting to “make positive change” to “my mom told me to apply” to having been influenced by the high-profile 2016 presidential election.
A few students furled their eyebrows at the mention of the city’s home-rule charter, and several giggled at the antics of one public commenter who brought a basketball to the podium at City Council.
But the mood of the group remained overwhelmingly focused, thoughtful and optimistic.
“This gives me the responsibility to help my own community, and allows me to take action into my own hands,” said Charity Allen, 14, who attends City Charter High School and lives in Sheraden.
Ashley Murray, amurray@post-gazette.com or 412-236-1449. Twitter @Ashley__Mur-ray