Mayor's Community Challenge to Award $10,000 to Communities for Street Level Innovation

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Building off of the success of the Love Your Block Community Grants and in preparation for the City hosting the 2018 Neighborhoods USA conference, Mayor William Bell has launched the Mayor’s Community Challenge, awarding $10,000 grants to each community in the city. The winning idea will be awarded $50,000 for the community, for the project of their choosing.

“We are looking for the innovators in our city," Bell said. "We have seen many successful small projects through our ‘Love Your Block’ program. We know that our greatest asset is our citizens and especially the neighborhood and community leaders who work every day to serve their communities. They know their neighborhoods best and we want to give them resources for street level innovation. We are asking the group to use imagination and teamwork to develop programs that unify and improve the City block by block."

The Love Your Block program is a neighborhood revitalization and beautification initiative where neighborhoods are selected based on application standards which identify a community’s need that can be addressed through volunteer service projects with the goal of creating neighborhood pride and volunteerism. The Mayor’s Community Challenge takes this a step further by allowing community and neighborhood officers to develop actual programs that fill a need in their area. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Birmingham Patch morning newsletter.)

In October 2012, Cities of Service announced that Birmingham was one of 18 cities nationwide to receive funding from the Bloomberg Foundation, paying for the Love Your Block Program. These programs have been successful on a small scale with projects ranging from $500-$1500.

Additional guidelines:

· $10,000 per community grant (23 Communities)

· Program submissions are due to the mayor’s office by September 29, 2017 at 5:00 p.m.

· $10,000 grants will be awarded to each community on October 6, 2017.

· The most successful program as determined by a panel of judges will be awarded $50,000 for their community on December 29, 2017.