By Martha Fedorowicz, Photo by Susan Montgomery, Housing Matters, March 24, 2021
While working for the City of Lansing’s Department of Neighborhoods and Citizen Engagement (DNCE) back in summer 2018, my colleagues and I realized something was amiss with our Neighborhood Advisory Board Grants program. The program was intended to promote community engagement among city residents, but at the time, it was only available to neighborhood associations—groups that tend to be whiter, wealthier, and more likely to own homes than the average resident.
We wanted to promote more community engagement across the city, so we decided to revamp the program.
The Neighborhood Grants program provides small grants—typically no more than $5,000—to neighborhood organizations to host social events, plant gardens, activate vacant lots with art, or install neighborhood signage. Groups interested in receiving funding submit an application for funds, and the mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Board (NAB) makes grantmaking decisions.
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