A People’s Budget for Oak Park

Our public budgets are moral documents that define the priorities and values of our village. For all of our taxing bodies, our residents should see themselves, their needs, values, and visions represented in our public budgets. But for many residents, our public budgets are out of alignment with their needs, values, and visions for the future. 

Since our inception, Freedom to Thrive Oak Park has focused solely on the budget for the Village of Oak Park’s, since this budget funds the department we are most concerned with: the police department. The Village Board has already started deliberating on the fiscal year 2021 budget (FY2021), and will vote on the budget in December.

We want to ask you - what are your priorities for the Village Budget? What programs and services do you want to see funded? Fill out our quick survey, and share the survey with others (bit.ly/peoplesbudgetop). The more responses we get, the more our survey results will reflect all residents of Oak Park. 

We plan to release survey responses either late December or early January of 2021, and hope to use the survey so that we can change our budgets for FY2022 and beyond. Let’s create a People’s Budget for Oak Park so that everyone has the freedom to thrive!