During this budget process, we urge the Seattle City Council to embrace our common values and create space for open dialogue. by Marissa Perez In the coming weeks, City of Seattle officials face the arduous task of closing a projected $260 million budget shortfall. The Seattle City Council will need to make difficult, high-stakes decisions. The path to a budget that will do the greatest good is clear–an open process that prioritizes partnership and public input.  Relying on community input to inform decisions is the foundation of a democratic community and the best way to ensure success and mutual safety. Policy decisions must involve community experts from the beginning to ensure that legislation is well-informed from the outset and not harmful to marginalized community members, that public response is one of support and not anger, and that elected officials aren’t forced to backpedal. However, recent actions of this council show a troubling track record of missed opportunities for community input and rushed legislation without appropriate public engagement. For example, after a single committee meeting, the council signed off on a controversial new jail contract with the South Correctional Entity (SCORE). This departs from precedent–legislation typically receives at least two committee meetings. If the council gave the public more transparency and opportunity to speak, that meeting may not have escalated and ended in council clearing people from chambers. By clearing the chamber, important questions and concerns about the high cost and safety went unanswered.  Similarly, a council member added a last-minute proviso that would effectively freeze Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) funding for projects in historically Black, brown, and immigrant communities without proactively consulting or informing community partners at the center of this work.  Elected officials have the responsibility to center transparency and public engagement in our city’s processes. Doing so ensures stronger policies. The fall budget process is a key opportunity to practice this. Our city’s revenue forecast is alarming, but we cannot just cut our way out of the budget crisis. As the Seattle Human Services Coalition–a multiracial, multicultural group of human service providers–we know that potential funding cuts will significantly impact our city’s most marginalized residents–people experiencing homelessness, experiencing hunger and food insecurity, survivors of gender-based violence, senior citizens, and youth.  During this budget process, we urge the Seattle City Council to embrace our common values and create space for open dialogue. We all want a political environment where the community trusts our elected officials and where we all have a voice in the decisions that impact our lives. These voices include human service providers with expertise on solutions to the community’s most persistent social problems as well as community members with diverse opinions and lived experiences.  We have seen this process work in past budget discussions. Last year, the city council reviewed a council-ordered wage equity study on low human services wages. They sought data, made an informed decision, and acted in partnership with the community.  As the council turns to budget deliberations, we ask for this same level of discussion and partnership with organizations, coalitions, and community members. We hope the Seattle City Council will provide clear, consistent, and democratic opportunities for public engagement, and consider input from a diverse range of perspectives, backgrounds, and lived experiences–from businesses to human service organizations, from renters to homeowners to our unhoused neighbors.  Engaging a wider range of community voices is what our city needs to make the strongest policies and funding decisions. Operating in an echo chamber and disregarding challenging opinions does not serve our city and risks creating harmful policies.  Democracy calls for all of us to actively listen, even when our opinions and experiences differ. With proactive and transparent engagement with the community, we are hopeful our elected officials can pass a budget that reflects the community’s values. The community who put this council in place is watching, and open dialogue during this urgent time is essential to rebuilding trust. Seattle Human Services Coalition (SHSC) is a coalition of over 200 agencies representing community issues such as homelessness, food equity, gender-based violence, community health care, senior services, and early childhood education. Marissa Perez directs the SHSC, Jen Muzia serves as SHSC co-chair, Marcia Wright-Soika co-chairs the SHSC’s city budget task force.