Neighborhood Initiative

This major grants program employs Board initiated, three to seven year financial commitments to collaborative partner groups serving the city of Grand Rapids in order to establish broad-based capacity to address systemic issues of poverty as they relate to people living in impoverished neighborhoods. Grant awards and related programming will be directed toward multiple components designed to build community support and self-reliance.

The Neighborhood Initiative is very much a work in progress and is informed by its participants and the challenges encountered in addressing systemic change, as well as local, regional and national progress in capacity-building within the community. The Initiative is conceived as a long-term effort and is defined by a three-phased approach to the development of such capacity at an individual and a collective neighborhood level.

Phase One

Currently, the Initiative is completing Phase One which entails:

• Identifying and developing citizen activists, emerging leaders and community organizers and involving them, along with the Foundation, in neighborhood projects.
• Training community organizers.
• Developing a communications system to link and inform existing/new organizers and activists.
• Completing a baseline study of and with Grand Rapids neighborhoods as a basis for action, and later evaluation.
• Establishing incentive funding to encourage participation in training and voluntary, high quality project and organizational standards.

Phase Two

The Second Phase of the Neighborhood Initiative will build upon its initial objectives and will:

• Link trained citizen activists, leaders and organizers and related projects to existing and/or new organizations and community-wide efforts.
• Continue to train citizen activists, leaders and community organizers.
• Establish a practical, community-based leadership training curriculum.
• Employ the communication network to inform organizations regarding common issues.

Phase Three

In the future, Phase Three will support citizen-initiated systems improvement and develop a central resource to meet the continuing need for information, technical assistance, advocacy and training of organizers, leaders and activists.

Please feel free to contact the Foundation for information regarding the status of the Neighborhood Initiative and its outcomes, or to share information regarding similar work in other communities.

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