during challenging times, how can people get involved in making tough community choices?

Hard economic times brought controversial choices into community budget decisions.

As civic tempers flared around school closings and other cutbacks, solid designed and produced Get Real, a participatory budget engagement process and brand experience that in six weeks brought over 75 small groups of residents across the community together in discussions about values and priorities that were important to guide public budget decisions.

The results were given to elected officials to support decision-making and tough budget choices.

All Get Real 2011 participants were provided a Get Real 2011 PARTICIPANT RESOURCE booklet and a Get Real 2011 PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK that made clear who does what in local government (city council, county commission, board of education) and laid out budget priorities for each to support a massive participatory budget process across the community. See the both booklets below.