Explaining LA County’s Budget: Animated Video Series

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

LA County had a $44 billion problem—how to make its massive budget and highly complex budgeting process understandable to the general public. The solution? Explaining the nation’s largest municipal budget in a series of short, animated videos that show how the budget works and why it matters in the lives of real people. The animated videos are hosted on a redesigned LA County budget page in which pageviews increase 1,000% since the new content was added. By moving away from business-as-usual budget communications, LA County rolled out the welcome mat for public participation in the budget process through improved public understanding of how the process and the funding streams work. The animated videos have been aired at Board of Supervisors meetings, where they reached thousands of virtual meeting participants and people tuning in on the County Channel and have also moved beyond the universe of the budget to be shown at Supervisor-hosted community meetings to advance public understanding of LA County’s work.