How a new public innovation grant could help revitalize central city neighborhoods

Neighborhood groups aiming to bring revitalization projects to their streets now have an opportunity to do so through a Love Your Block grant awarded to the City of Columbia.

The Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University announced the $100,000 grant Tuesday morning.

Mayor Barbara Buffaloe's participation in a Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative last year could have had an impact in the scoring of grant applications, she wrote in a message to the Tribune.

"While it’s not directly related to my Bloomberg Harvard program, I have been told that my active participation in the program and dedication to continuous improvement for the city helps when they’re scoring applications for awards," she wrote.

The city's Neighborhood Services Department made the grant application, noted Sydney Olsen, city spokesperson, in a message to the Tribune.

"Columbia is the first city in Missouri to be selected to participate in the Love Your Block Program," she wrote.

Columbia is among 16 U.S. cities to receive the grant award.

The city now can create a mini-grant program to fund resident-led neighborhood revitalization projects. Examples from the Bloomberg Center include turning vacant lots into community gardens, playground equipment repairs or trash and debris removal from public rights of way, among others.

"City staff will coordinate the details of the program with the staff of the Bloomberg Center and Johns Hopkins, (along) with input from the Columbia community," Olsen wrote, adding the Love Your Block program will focus on central city neighborhoods.

Bloomberg Center referred to a 2021 study by the Urban Institute that found that cities that participated in Love Your Block "strengthened social cohesion among residents, increased civic participation and built strong relationships with community members, ultimately leading to greater trust in local government.

Along with the $100,000 the city will distribute, it will receive a dedicated AmeriCorps VISTA, or Volunteers in Service to America. VISTAs "support an organization to make sustainable change in areas that effect poverty, including education, public health, climate, access to benefits, and more," the program website noted.

Columbia also will receive technical assistance and training from the Bloomberg Center's team of civic engagement experts.

“Love Your Block helps cities refine one of the most important skills required to drive innovation – the ability to center residents, work with communities, and turn localities into engines for co-creation and delivery,” said Amanda Daflos, Bloomberg Center executive director in a news release.

The Love Your Block program also helps mayors foster civic engagement and public innovation to build trust in government, she added.

"We look forward to seeing this work — and the infrastructure it can inform — take off in more cities across thecountry," Daflos said.

Love Your Block is a 15-year-old program impacting 50,000 community members and has helped improved 4,000 public spaces, the news release notes. This has included the creation of nearly 800 art displays, cleaning of 102,000 square feet of graffiti and removing 6.7 million pounds of trash in cities nationwide. As of Tuesday 50 cities in 33 states have received program support.

“Thanks to support from Love Your Block, our city removed 31,000 pounds of trash and cleared 13,000 acres of land with the help of 1,025 volunteers through 80 community-led mini-grant projects,” said Erie, Pennsylvania, Mayor Joe Schember in the release.

Erie was one of eight cities participating in Love Your Block from 2021 through last year. It now is expanding the program's impact through American Rescue Plan Act and Community Service Block Grants to sustain the initiative.

"(Love Your Block) is such a vital part of our holistic approach to get resources into the hands, hearts, and homes of those who need it the most," Schember said.

The Bloomberg Center aims to advance public sector innovations to "transform the culture of government, deliver exceptional results for residents and inspire trust in public service."

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Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia first Missouri City to receive Love Your Block grant