Term Limits Come to a Small Southern City

Paris has implemented the world's largest participatory budgeting program, allowing any resident aged 7 and older to propose and vote on city projects funded by municipal money. Since 2014, the city has allocated 5% of its total budget and has implemented 1,345 citizen-proposed projects over the past 10 years, including rooftop farms, community centers, and infrastructure for homeless residents. In addition, research shows areas with participatory budgeting see greater trust in local leadership and higher rates of civic engagement.

Kaua'i County Housing Agency uses a community engagement model for its master-planned affordable housing developments, involving community advisory committees, multiple public meetings, surveys, and online tools that allow residents to shape key housing and community decisions. The agency has applied this model for over a decade, with great results, including Lima Ola, a 550-unit workforce housing community.

Black mothers at Griffon Manor organized community activism, advocacy campaigns, and coalitions to demand equitable government support and recognition after the Love Canal, New York, environmental disaster—eventually resulting in partial victories such as federal relocation assistance, although persistent structural racism and media neglect severely limited their initial visibility, effectiveness, and lasting recognition.

After decentralized protests in Sudan successfully ousted a 30-year dictatorship, nonviolent civic action in the country continues to grow, with highly localized demonstrations calling for everything from greater security against cattle theft to the resignation of corrupt public officials. The protests have been fueled by better exposure via social media, more collaboration among activist groups, and the proliferation of neighborhood-level "resistance committees" that grew out of the movement to topple the dictatorship in 2018 and 2019.

The Sequim Good Governance League (SGGL) formed in response to right-wing agitators taking over positions of power and spreading misinformation. SGGL recruited progressive and moderately conservative candidates who successfully defeated incumbents with the help of dozens of volunteers they trained. Volunteers worked around the clock, sent out emails, put up signs around the town, and used their most effective tool: having one-on-one conversations with other residents. SGGL-backed candidates now hold the majority of government offices.

Grassroots movements made up of ordinary citizens can go a long way in creating change. This article details several initiatives across Ohio that were led by citizens using a combination of lobbying, education, persistence, knowledge of government practices, and organization. Some things that were achieved using these methods are wage reimbursements and increased bus access.

Politicians and community leaders across Colorado take legislative creation out of Washington and into the areas they're trying to protect. Stakeholders around the state, many of whom disagree socially and politically, worked together to create a measure to protect 400,000 acres of public land while factoring in ways to maintain economic success.

After a Republican led state law that bans people without an address from voting took effect, Native American tribes in North Dakota began organizing to get out the vote. They even began creating their own addresses. They teamed up with Claremont Graduate University in California and overlaid “ voting precinct maps on satellite images of the reservations and assigned each precinct one address.” “The right to vote can be taken for granted until someone tries to take it away from you, and then it can be the reason you do vote.”

For the past year, community organizers in Baltimore have been going door to door to share Know Your Rights materials, as well as hosting trainings to help residents get involved in rapid responses against ICE operations in the city. Hundreds of people have been trained so far and the effort has led to the formation of about a dozen community-based ICE watch groups.

The nonprofit YIAGA Africa is increasing voter participation in general elections by providing grants to youth across Nigera looking to launch their own voter engagement projects. The grant recipients help people register to vote, run awareness campaigns, and work with local organizations.