Shari Davis

Budget Revolutionary

Co-Executive Director, Participatory Budgeting Project
Oakland, CA

@shari_davis1
Instagram

TOPICS
Activism
Democracy
Future of Work
Policy

BOOK SPEAKER

BACK TO SPEAKERS

Shari Davis believes that budgets are moral documents. As Co-Executive Director of The Participatory Budgeting Project, Shari invites people into the process of how government money gets spent, essentially putting the public back in public works. Their love affair with city government started in high school, when they served on the Boston Mayor’s Youth Council; they would go on to lead the first and largest ever youth participatory budgeting process in the U.S. while working for the City of Boston, become part of the Obama Foundation’s signature fellowship program, and be awarded an Emerson Collective Dial fellowship, to boot.

Today, their popular TED talk is a starting point for many people on what participatory democracy actually looks like. They are one of the most fierce, visionary proponents of healing our democracy through truly public processes, bringing the speculative fiction, the arts, and so many more tools to bear on one of the most urgent challenges of our polarized times.

Participatory budgeting is about transforming the relationship that people can have with government and with community-led decision-making so that we make really good, fiscally responsible decisions that reflect community spending priorities.

—Shari Davis

@FRESHSpeakers

RT @VillanuevaEdgar: Funding the Earth's keepers: The need for Indigenous climate philanthropy - my interview in @mashable - https://t.co… about 1 month ago
RT @pritikrishtel: Big news! This summer I’ll be transitioning out of my role as @IMAKglobal’s co-Executive Director. Going forward, my co-… about 1 month ago
RT @VillanuevaEdgar: Thanks, @mashable for lifting up #Indigenous leadership & @DecolonizWealth's Indigenous Earth Fund - moving millions t… about 1 month ago

FRESH Speakers, Inc. is a next-generation speakers bureau, uniquely representing women and people of color--two groups historically left off the public stage. Our speakers range from business leaders to artists, scientists to athletes. They have given ground-breaking TED talks and written best-selling books, but, more importantly, their wisdom comes from real world, lived experiences. FRESH speakers routinely grace the world's biggest thought leadership stages, host nonprofit benefits, and keynote Fortune 100 corporate retreats, university lecture series, leading tech conferences, grassroots organizing convenings, and countless other venues, the world over.

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