Mayor Byron W. Brown and the City of Buffalo Division of Citizen Services today announced the winners of the 2019 Love Your Block mini-grants, a program that awards funds to targeted Buffalo neighborhoods for beautification and revitalization projects. Seven winners were chosen to receive funding of up to $1,000.
“I congratulate all the winners of the Love Your Block mini-grants,” said Mayor Brown. “Through the Love Your Block program, we continue to build an equitable and inclusive city of opportunity by bringing people together, while encouraging community engagement and volunteerism to further improve and beautify our diverse neighborhoods, one block at a time.”
Love Your Block is a program in which volunteer-led community groups compete for a chance to win cash grants up to $1000, as well as project planning assistance, to beautify and transform a public space in Buffalo.
In September 2018, Cities of Service, a nonprofit organization that helps mayors build stronger cities by changing the way local government and citizens work together, equipped the City of Buffalo with two AmeriCorps VISTAs in the Mayor’s Division of Citizen Services, as well as a budget of $25,000 over two years, to develop the Love Your Block initiative, a volunteer-led neighborhood revitalization projects that address blight.
Winners of the inaugural cycle of the Love Your Block mini-grant program focused their projects in the Kensington-Bailey, Broadway-Fillmore, Lower West Side, and Masten Park neighborhoods. Below is a list of award recipients.
• Youth N’ Progress - Sperry Street Project
• We Care Neighborhood Community Block Club - 601 and 632 Sycamore Revitalization
• Jefferson Avenue Block Club #644 - Art is Function: Garbage Bins Mural Project
• Burlington Avenue Block Club - Increase Residence and Pedestrian Safety through Illumination
• Kleinhans Community Association - National Grid Station Historical Mural
• The Belle Center - Beautification of The Belle Center Outdoors
• Winslow Block Club #2 - Memorialized Tulip Garden
At the awards ceremony, Mayor Brown also announced the start of a second cycle of the Love Your Block Mini-grant application process. The deadline for filing an application is July 26, 2019. This new cycle is called, Love Your Block - Powered by cities RISE.
For more information, visit Mayor Brown’s Office of Citizen Services at 65 Niagara Square, room 218, Buffalo NY, 14202.
E-mail:loveyourblock@city-buffalo.com or call (716) 851-4890. The deadline for filing an application is July 26, 2019. This new cycle is called, Love Your Block - powered by Cities RISE.