City of Newark Love Your Block Grant Program

The City of Newark's Love Your Block (LYB) Mini-Grants Program is a community-driven initiative aimed at fostering neighborhood beautification and community building through collaborative projects between residents, city departments, and local organizations. This program aligns with a broader mission of empowering residents to actively shape their communities, promoting a sense of ownership and pride, and ultimately creating cleaner, greener, and healthier neighborhoods. The underlying theory of change suggests that by providing accessible funding and technical support, resident-led initiatives will lead to tangible improvements and stronger community ties. The primary beneficiaries of this program are individuals, resident groups, and community organizations within the City of Newark who are passionate about enhancing their local environments. The program's impact goals are centered on reducing litter, improving waste management, revitalizing underutilized properties, and enhancing green spaces. By engaging residents directly in these efforts, the program aims to cultivate a more vibrant and engaged citizenry, leading to sustainable community improvements and a better quality of life for all residents. The program's priorities and focuses are clearly delineated into three grant categories: Community clean-ups, Minor exterior home repairs & curb appeal, and Enhancing Green Spaces and Activating Vacant Lots. These categories reflect the city's strategic priorities in addressing key challenges such as litter, property blight, and underutilized public spaces. The emphasis on these areas is designed to produce visible and impactful results that resonate with residents' everyday experiences and contribute to the overall aesthetic and environmental health of the city. Expected outcomes include a noticeable reduction in litter and an improvement in recycling efforts, the repurposing of dormant or underutilized properties, and the enhancement of community advantages around parks and open areas. Measurable results will likely be observed through the number of successful clean-up events, the completion of home repair and curb appeal projects, and the transformation of vacant lots into valuable community assets. The program's reimbursement-based funding of up to $5,000 per project, coupled with targeted technical assistance, is designed to ensure that these initiatives are achievable and produce meaningful, lasting change within the designated project period of September 2024 to November 15, 2024.