Volunteer Participatory Budgeting Delegates are essential to Cambridge Participatory Budgeting (PB). Volunteering is a great opportunity to become a community leader, get to know your neighbors, learn about Cambridge, and help make the city a better place. PB Delegates are tasked with reviewing and researching all ideas submitted during the Idea Collection phase of PB and transforming them into 20 proposals to appear on the PB ballot. All PB Delegates must be Cambridge residents.

Serving as a PB Delegate requires a significant time commitment from October through mid December, and one final meeting in early February. Meetings will be in-person, primarily at City Hall. Dates are provided on the full volunteer page.

The PB volunteering process begins with an in-person PB Delegate Orientation on Wednesday, Oct 7 2026 from 6-8pm at Cambridge City Hall, Sullivan Chamber (795 Massachusetts Avenue). In the weeks that follow, Delegate Committees then meet for about two hours each week to review, research, and prioritize PB ideas.

In October and November, delegates meet with City staff to ask questions and discuss proposals, before submitting a shortlist of proposals to the Budget Office in early December. After receiving final feedback and cost estimates from City staff in mid-January, delegates have until late January to submit final ballot text. PB voting takes place in March, with a results party to follow.

For more information or to apply, please visit https://www.cambridgema.gov/participatorybudgeting/Volunteer.

If you have any questions regarding Participatory Budgeting volunteer opportunities, please contact Melissa Liu at pb@cambridgema.gov or call (617) 349-4270.