The Pueblo’s Budget Campaign (PBC) at Poder In Action is led by Barrios al Poder.
The PBC is a community-led fight to take back the billion-dollar police budget and invest in the life-affirming resources working class and BIPOC communities need to live happy, healthy, joyous lives in Phoenix.
In Phoenix, people living on the West and South side live an average of up to 14 years less than people living in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods just a few miles north. This fact, paired with the reality of the high rates of police violence these same communities were experiencing, drove Barrios leaders and a team of volunteers to survey over 10,000 community members in 2018. We asked people, primarily people of color in West Phoenix, about their experiences with policing and what changes they needed to see in their community. This massive survey laid the groundwork for the Pueblo’s Budget!
Today we’re building power with our people to change the course of our future by fighting for a city budget that centers our health, healing, and safety over policing, criminalization, and profit! Check out what we’re fighting for in our Pueblo’s Budget below, or read our Pueblo’s Budget report here!
Read more about what we learned through that survey in our report: Phoenix Futuro!
Every year, Phoenix City Council members have a choice in how they spend the money in the General Fund. This is money generated from things like sales tax, property taxes, and fees- money that community members pay every single day. While a lot of money in the City budget is earmarked for specific purposes, this money is discretionary for Council members to spend however they want. For years, Council members have chosen to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on police, while things like housing and homeless services have been left deeply underfunded. This graph shows how Council members voted to spend the General Fund in 2025.