How residents of Lawrence, MA, are campaigning for greater resident control of public resources.
How does a struggling old mill city with a dysfunctional public life use the energy of its "newcomer" Latino population to become a hotbed of progressive civic engagement practices?
Lawrence, Massachusetts was founded by the Essex Company in 1847 as a center of textile production, and during its first 75 years became the “woolen and worsted capital of the world†â€" only to decline into stagnation over the next 75.
In 1999, a reborn community development corporation, Lawrence CommunityWorks (LCW), emerged from local organizing work and began connecting residents around a broad-based revitalization strategy for the city. One recent focus of this work has been a resident-led City Budget Campaign to catalyze community participation in the budget process and to change the way decisions are made about local resource allocation.
Thanks to David Holtzman
Read the full story: Budgeting for Democracy
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
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