Community Fund Guidelines
In West Indianapolis, we believe the best way to improve our neighborhood is with projects that we develop and fund right here in our community. Over the past several years, the community has worked to develop agreement around the priorities for neighborhood improvement. These priorities are part of our quality-of-life plan. This plan includes a new way to fund these efforts: a community fund that will operate like a “community chest” so that we can pull our resources together for our common vision.
In 2006, West Indianapolis was chosen as one of six urban neighborhoods to participate in the Great Indy Neighborhoods Initiatives (GINI) Demonstration Initiative. Through this program, we created a quality-of-life plan for West Indianapolis, which shows how we were going to make our community a better place to live, work, visit, and raise families. The West Indianapolis Community Fund will support the projects we identified in our quality-of-life plan.
We want West Indianapolis to be a place where:
- Residents have access to opportunities for life-long learning and solid employment.
- Neighbors get the assistance they need
- Kids get a great education at community schools.
- Existing businesses thrive and new businesses grow.
- Parks and green spaces are great places to play and relax.
- People who work Downtown find great, affordable places to live.
In 2016, the focus of the Community Fund Competitive Grants will be on Connecting Neighbors to Resources, Community Engagement and Neighborhood Beautification.
Guidelines:
- Competitive Grants can range from $250.00 to a maximum total of $ 1,500.00. Funds will be given to the lead organization or their fiscal agent (if they are not a non-profit organization).
- One grant per year or $1,500.00 per organization. (This does not apply to organizations acting in “fiscal agent” capacity for applicants.)
- Grant requests should be for new projects or an expansion of an existing project (not for operating or ongoing staff costs).
- Projects take place within West Indianapolis – White River on the east, Raymond Street on the south, Hold Road on the west, and the first set of Conrail railroad tracks on the north
- Additional funds from other sources would be good, but is not required.
- Applicants will be asked to explain how this project
- Relates to the West Indianapolis Quality of Life Plan
- Impacts West Indianapolis
- Involves neighbors in the implementation
- Will help people remain engaged beyond the initial project –
- Will encourage your organization to be further engaged in West Indy community projects such as Community Day, Night Out Against Crime or the Holiday Tree Lighting
The first step is to contact Beth Gibson (information below), the Staff Coordinator of the West Indianapolis Community Fund that briefly states:
- What do you want to do?
- Where do you want to do it at?
- Who will it impact?
- Who do you think your partners will be?
- How much will it take in total to do your project?
- How much are you asking for from the Community Fund?
You will be notified within two weeks if the Advisory Committee would like to see a full proposal from you. You will receive an application to complete. At that point, the rest of the process is:
- Complete the application and get signed by the major partners.
- The grant application will be reviewed at the next meeting of the West Indianapolis Community Fund Advisory Committee and will determine what support is available for the project. The discussion regarding the decision may include meeting(s), phone conversations, and/or email correspondence.
- Applicants will be informed of the Advisory Committee’s in writing within three business days after the decision has been finalized.
- The grant will actually come from the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), the fiscal agent for the West Indianapolis Community Fund.
- A brief report describing results that were achieved will be expected no later than 60 days after the project is done and should be submitted to the West Indianapolis Community Fund.
If you have questions, please contact Beth Gibson at 638-9432 ext 4# or email her at Beth@WestIndyDev.org
A copy of the Quality of Life Plan can be found within this website.
2016 Application For Support
Click the following link to fill out the form for the application for support: 2016 Application for Support »
