Launched on June 15th 2016, Love My Neighbor!, a grant program for residents in our focus communities, received 42 applications!
Resident applicants now enter the next stage of the application process: interviews with the Grassroots Grantmaking Committee (GGC), a body of residents from our communities that reviews proposals and makes final decisions on grant recipients.
On Thursday, July 28th, the GGC team kicked off interviews with 6 residents groups—five from the Hilltop and one from Homewood—at Work Hard Pittsburgh on Warrington Avenue. During interviews, resident applicants shared their story passionately and creatively. Beverly Howell, a resident applicant from Homewood who plans to do a clean-up project with kids called Grandma’s Play Day, shared “the interview made me feel more inspired to do what I do because I got to share my deepest thoughts about what I want to do for my kids. In my life, I’ve been physically abused and the opportunity to do this project lets me do the opposite for my kids: love them.”
Residents found the application process for the program easy. Blythe Stephens, a resident from Beltzhoover in the Hilltop neighborhoods, shared that “many of us who completed the application have never applied for a grant. It was intimidating at first but once I took my idea and started putting it on paper it was easy to complete.”
Love My Neighbor! builds neighborhoods by identifying, empowering, and supporting projects imagined by and for community. The application is intended to be accessible to people of all backgrounds and abilities. Interviews are opportunities for residents to share their passion and do work that is important to them, their neighbors, and places they live. Interviews conclude on Monday, August 8th and final decisions are revealed on Tuesday, August 16th. A Gathering for all applicants of the program will celebrate the creativity and passions of those who applied on August 23rd.