Can you imagine having an idea to improve your neighborhood and having public funds available to make it happen? In the Yuguelito community, they didn't just imagine it; they pursued it. After a collective mapping and needs prioritization process facilitated by Accountability Lab, a project was born: Todos juntos por un Yuguelito seguro. It was a Sendero Seguro combining paving, streetlights, security cameras, and neighborhood alarms. This project was a thorough proposal with undeniable community support. While exploring ways to bring it to life, we came across Participatory Budgeting as a potential avenue. This mechanism is meant to give everyone [...]

[Read the first part of this story: Yuguelito: Housing, Self-Governance & Accountability] The first part of this story ended with an implicit promise: over 250 completed surveys, a team of eleven Community Frontline Agents with Yuguelito at the center, and the certainty that what came next would have to live up to what the community had taken the time to say. This is the story of what happened after. What the community said A total of 255 voices were captured—representing over 12% of the settlement’s population, or, put another way, roughly half of the ~500 families who call Yuguelito home. [...]