Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Announcing Two Community Engagement Funding Opportunities

The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability announces two funding opportunities for organizations and individuals to conduct community around the proposed North Minneapolis Greenway. See below for details on both opportunities and consider applying!


The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, in partnership with the City of Minneapolis and the Northside Greenway Council, is pleased to announce two funding opportunities for organizations and individuals to do community engagement around the proposed North Minneapolis Greenway. 

Application for Micro-grants to Organizations: 

We are accepting applications from community organizations to share information and gather input from north Minneapolis residents along the proposed greenway. Community organizations must be either nonprofit 501.c 3 organizations or have a fiscal sponsor that is a nonprofit organization. Community organizations will also be expected to present information and gather input in a neutral way. Target groups can include:
  • Residents living directly on the existing proposed greenway route (a primary target group north of Plymouth)
  • Residents of the Sumner-Glenwood, Harrison, and Near North/Willard Hay neighborhoods (south of Plymouth Ave)
  • The larger north Minneapolis community, with an emphasis on the following Northside residents: African-American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American, people with disabilities, people who do not speak English as a first language, other cultural communities, youth, older adults, people with limited or no access to a vehicle, renters, other groups that were not well-represented in previous engagement efforts
Organizations reaching out to residents north of Plymouth may apply for grants of $500 up to $5,000 to conduct engagement. Because of the breath of work that needs to take place south of Plymouth to ensure that the engagement process is as thorough and complete as it has been in previous rounds of engagement north of Plymouth, organizations reaching this geographic area may apply for awards up to $10,000, with a total award proportional to the size of the population targeted. Approximately $51,000 is available. For more information and to access the application, please click here.

Application for Community Connectors:
We are also accepting applications for six Northside Greenway Council Community Connectors. Community Connectors are individuals who will work to raise awareness, provide education and gather general feedback around the proposed Greenway project in specific communities in North Minneapolis. These positions will be directly supervised by a community-based organization.

In engagement efforts from 2014, the Greenway Council was able to garner significant feedback representative of the diverse North Minneapolis community compared to engagement efforts in the past. However, there are still significant gaps in representation from many racial, cultural, and otherwise specific constituencies. To that end, we are looking for Community Connectors to do a deeper round of engagement, working specifically with the following demographics in North Minneapolis: African and African Americans, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, Native Americans, people who do not speak English as a first language, other cultural communities, people with limited or no access to a vehicle, and people with disabilities.

Six individuals will be selected to receive an estimated stipend of $2,550 each to conduct engagement activities. For more information and for the application, please click here.

There will also be an information meeting for all interested applicants of both funding pools on Wednesday, March 4 from 3.30 - 5 p.m. at North Commons Park (1801 James Ave N, Minneapolis).
Applications are due by 5 p.m. Friday, March 27 and should be emailed to Ebony Adedayo - ebony@metrostability.org

 The Greenway Steering Committee is now on Facebook. Be sure to like us