Josh Lerner, Co-Executive Director
/New York City, United States
Josh has spent the past 20 years developing, researching and supporting participatory democracy programs around the world. He is dedicated to building and connecting movements that expand people’s democratic power.
Before starting People Powered, he founded and served as Executive Director of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), a nonprofit organization that empowers people to decide together how to spend public money across the United States and Canada. Through this work, 534,000 people in 30 cities directly decided how to spend $337 million.
Josh completed a PhD in politics at the New School for Social Research and a master’s degree in planning from the University of Toronto. He is the author of Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics, Everyone Counts: Could Participatory Budgeting Change Democracy? and dozens of articles.
At People Powered, Josh forges partnerships with organizations, researchers and funders to advance our shared goals. When he’s not exploring the frontiers of democracy, Josh is usually in the kitchen crafting vegan recipes, biking around Brooklyn in search of the best roti, or being massacred by his son at board games.
