West Marin voters turned out for the county’s newest pilot project, dividing $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to programs across the county. Despite being outnumbered in population, West Marin nabbed monies for all three of the projects it submitted for Marin’s first-ever participatory budgeting process. “We’re stoked!” said Elizabeth Max, the executive administrative assistant for West Marin Community Services, which tied for fourth in the number of votes to win its full grant request for an electric van. “We need to work out logistics in terms of charging the van and where we’re going to do that, but we’re so excited to get the van going.” The group said the vehicle will cost $180,000 and be operational by the summer, allowing residents across the coast to access Latino-focused and community events and to attend Dance Palace events and after-school programs that currently rely on inconsistent carpooling. The West Marin Fund narrowly made the cut and was awarded its request for $74,000 to provide at least 50 high-quality car seats for low-income families, along with free installation and training. Car crashes are the second leading cause of death for children in the United States, and the fund said local families with limited resources often request assistance with car seat safety. In addition to the 16 fully funded programs, eight runner-up programs were awarded $10,000 to kickstart their projects. Among the eight was the Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine at Commonweal Garden, a program within the nonprofit Commonweal, which had sought $250,000 to provide free retreats for underserved communities. In the coming months, the county’s Office of Equity will focus on supporting and monitoring implementation for each of the winning programs and providing technical support. From after-school programs to youth leadership courses, emergency preparedness, food security and more, the 24 projects that were nominated out of approximately 250 were aimed at addressing systemic impacts to marginalized groups, primarily the Hispanic population. According to a 2020 study by University of California Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute, Marin is by far the most segregated county in the Bay Area. Office of Equity director Jamillah Jordan described the local participatory budgeting process as “an opportunity to give people real power over real public money.”