Love Your Block Grant

The City of Hartford and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving are teaming up to offer a more comprehensive Love Your Block grant program including grants for projects led by residents and/or community partners. Together, we are looking for your ideas to help clean, green, and beautify Hartford neighborhoods this spring and summer. Ideas may be for project planning, implementation, and/or maintenance of past projects.

Ideas will be considered if they are feasible, align with resident/City plans for the neighborhood, and have the capacity to complete. In some cases, submissions may be connected to City departments, local nonprofits, or other groups, for technical assistance in planning or implementing before you are invited to submit an application.

Ideas that are selected to move forward after this initial review will be invited to submit a full application through either the City of Hartford (resident projects) or the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (nonprofit projects). We plan to streamline both application processes to ensure they are manageable for community groups. 

Please submit potential application ideas by March 10th using this online form. Note that we will continue to monitor the pandemic and its impact on potential projects.

Information sessions will be held to answer questions about the program and the application process. Please see our Info Sheet(PDF, 552KB) for additional information at www.hartfordct.gov/lybhartford

Program Timeline

Round 1: Idea Submission

Round 2: Invitations to Apply from Round 1 submissions

  • March 22, 2024 - Selected ideas invited to submit grant application
  • April 12, 2024 - Application period ends for selected ideas invited to submit grant application
  • May, 2024 - Grant Recipients Announced
Grant Eligibility Requirements:
In order to qualify for the Love Your Block grant, each group must:
  • Propose a project within the boundaries of the City of Hartford.
  • Propose a project that highlights the uniqueness of your neighborhood.
  • Propose a project that is open to the public and beautifies and/or increases safety of your neighborhood.
  • Recruit 10 or more volunteers; 50% must be residents of the neighborhood
  • Propose a budget that does not exceed $2,500 for resident grant or $25,000 for community grant
  • Be willing to collect and document project data and results.
  • Have at least two identified project leaders and who can attend the Virtual Orientation
For Application assistance email loveyourblock@hartford.gov to request an appointment.
 The idea submission period is now closed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Can Submit an Idea?

Ideas may come from formal or informal groups of Hartford neighborhood residents (including Neighborhood Revitalization Zones), faith groups, and nonprofit organizations (nonprofit ideas should be informed through their work with Hartford neighborhood residents). Note that nonprofits seeking funding for beautification activities from the Hartford Foundation MUST submit an idea through the Call for Ideas process to be considered in this year's application process.

What Type of Projects/Activities are Eligible?

A wide variety of activities, large and small, are eligible. This opportunity is focused on:

  • Cleaning (neighborhood or lot clean-ups, picking up litter, cleaning graffiti, weeding, etc.),
  • Greening (planting flowers or trees, creating or maintaining community gardens, etc.). or
  • Beautifying (murals or other public art, projects that seek to create/support neighborhood character or identity).

We are open to ideas that may need additional planning support to get to implementation. Ideas are also accepted for the maintenance of existing beautification projects.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

How Do I Submit an Idea?

Ideas can be submitted online at www.hartfordct.gov/lybideas. The form should not take longer than 30 minutes to complete and it is okay if your idea is not fully baked, or aren’t sure of all the pieces you need to make it happen. The questions ask broadly about your idea, what you think it will take to do it, as well as who you can partners with to do it.

What Happens After I Submit?

Ideas are reviewed by the City of Hartford and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Ideas may be connected to City departments, local nonprofits, or other professional services for technical assistance in planning or implementing the idea before you are invited to submit a formal application. Feedback will be provided to all submissions and those that are feasible and aligned with resident priorities will be invited to submit a full application via the City of Hartford (resident projects) or the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (larger community projects).

How Much are the Grants?

Grants will be offered in two following categories:

  • LYB Resident Grant - These are resident-led projects and funding may be for implementation of a new project, expansion of past projects, or maintenance of past projects that can be completed within the summer of the grant year. Funding requests up to $2,500 will be considered.
  • LYB Community Grant - These are projects led by and/or informed by residents, but that have a nonprofit implementation partner. Funding may be for planning, implementation, and/or maintenance of larger neighborhood projects. Funding requests between $2,500 and $25,000 will be considered.

What if I Have Additional Questions?

There are two info sessions scheduled to answer any questions about your ideas or the process:

The info sessions will be recorded and the recording will be posted on www.hartfordct.gov/lybhartford if you are not able to attend.

In addition, questions can be directed to: loveyourblock@hartford.gov or Phone: (860) 757-9520

     
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