ForColumbia awarded Love Your Block grant to support Columbia’s North Central Neighborhood
COLUMBIA, Mo. — ForColumbia has been selected as one of 12 first-round recipients of the City of Columbia‘s Love Your Block grant program. The City has awarded the nonprofit $2,500 to support neighborhood-based projects in Columbia’s North Central Neighborhood.
ForColumbia will use the grant to provide practical support to residents in the North Central Neighborhood, including exterior repairs, fence repairs and installations, landscaping and other small-scale home and property improvements.
“We are incredibly honored to be among the first recipients of the Love Your Block Grant. This funding will go directly to providing materials for home repairs that residents are unable to fund themselves. Alongside the volunteer labor we will provide, we’re excited to make a big impact in this First Ward neighborhood,” said Shelly Mayer, Executive Director of ForColumbia.
ForColumbia: Strengthening City Neighborhoods
The Love Your Block grant initiative, funded by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, is designed to support projects that strengthen neighborhoods in central and northeast Columbia through beautification, safety improvements and community engagement.
“This grant’s goal aligns beautifully with our mission as well. Hundreds of ForColumbia volunteers will be serving side by side with homeowners to beautify dozens of properties,” Mayer confirmed.
“The City’s Love Your Block program is excited to support ForColumbia with a Love Your Block mini-grant,” said Leigh Kottwitz, Manager of Neighborhood Services. “One of the goals of Columbia’s Love Your Block program is to support residents in our central neighborhoods with the help of volunteers. That is exactly what ForColumbia is all about.”
According to Kottwitz, “The funds received from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation that provide Love Your Block mini-grants make a big impact on our community through ForColumbia. Thank you, ForColumbia, and your 2,000+ volunteers, for partnering with us and Love Your Block. We look forward to great things on April 26.”
April 26 Preparations Well Underway
The grant award comes as ForColumbia is also preparing for its 11th annual event on Saturday, April 26. This event will mobilize more than 2,000 volunteers to serve at over 90 locations across the city.
ForColumbia brings together volunteers from across the community to serve and support others. While churches organize the effort, anyone is welcome to participate and work alongside their neighbors.
- Photo: Neighborhood Services Manager Leigh Kottwitz and Jacob Richardson of Volunteer Programs present a Love Your Block grant plus a bouquet of flowers to Shelly Mayer, Executive Director of ForColumbia. Photo provided courtesy of the City Manager’s Office.
- Press Release from the City of Columbia: City of Columbia announces mini-grant award winners for the Love Your Block program
