The City of El Paso Department of Community and Human Development received the Cities of Service Love Your Block Grant from Johns Hopkins University, Cities of Service.
El Paso was one of only eight cities in the U.S. selected to participate in Love Your Block. The City will receive a $100,000 grant over two years to support resident-led efforts to address neighborhood blight and to fund a Love Your Block Fellow drawn from the community, as well as up to two AmeriCorps VISTA members to build capacity for resident engagement and help strengthen communities and technical assistance from expert Cities of Service staff.
The grant program brings city leaders and residents together to build stronger neighborhoods, one block at a time. Through the program, cities will award mini-grants to residents and community partners to reduce blight and spur neighborhood-driven change.
The program focuses on helping cities partner with community groups and activate resident volunteers to repair, remediate, or otherwise address blight in their neighborhoods from a grass-roots approach.
The winning cities include dense urban populations and rural communities across the country with populations ranging from 31,000 to more than 600,000.
Each community is expected to take a variety of approaches to combat blight, including environmental clean ups, exterior home repairs, creating community greenspace, and reactivating vacant lots and public spaces.
Since 2009, Cities of Service has helped nearly 50 cities collaborate with residents to implement Love Your Block. More than 26,000 community members have revitalized over 3,500 community spaces, creating nearly 750 art displays, cleaning 98,000 square feet of graffiti, removing 6 million pounds of trash, and much more.
The complete list of winners are:
Albany, New York Nashua, New Hampshire
El Paso, Texas Salt Lake City, Utah
Erie, Pennsylvania Shawnee, Oklahoma
Jackson, Tennessee White Plains, New York
For more information, visit Cities of Services Love Your Block.
For more info, click here; for our complete coverage of the City, click here.
