Great Neighborhood Grants

The Great Neighborhood Grant Program is designed to help North Liberty residents, and especially Neighborhood Ambassadors, offer activities that bring their neighbors together and enhance the quality of life in North Liberty. The goals of this  program are to:

  • Build an increased sense of neighborhood community
  • Develop or renew neighborhood relationships
  • Encourage interaction between generations and cultures
  • Further establish the Neighborhood Ambassadors’ role as an engagement coordinator and resource for their neighbors

Funds are available for resident-organized programs or improvement projects taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2024. Neighborhood Ambassadors or residents of a neighborhood with an ambassador vacancy are invited to submit an application. If you are not a Neighborhood Ambassador but you have a project idea, please contact your Neighborhood Ambassador to inquire about your neighborhood’s remaining funds and submit an application.

Up to $400 is available per neighborhood each year. Residents from different neighborhoods are welcome to combine efforts to develop a multi-neighborhood event or project. In this case, neighborhoods can pursue up to $400 each to support this effort.

If these funds prove to benefit our neighborhoods, more funding may be available in the next fiscal year.

Additional sponsors are allowed, as is collecting free-will donations from neighbors, but attendance and participation must be free to all.

QuestionsContact Outreach & Equity Coordinator Micah Ariel James at [email protected] or (319) 640‐8172.

For an event, program or improvement project to qualify for a grant it must:

  • Be neighborhood-focused
  • Take place between January 1 and December 31, 2024
  • Be held within city limits
  • Be free for residents to attend
  • Be inclusive, and open to everyone who resides in the neighborhood, without regard to race, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or any other status protected by law
  • Follow whatever COVID-19 mitigation methods are recommended by Johnson County Public Health at the time of the event.
  • Not duplicate an existing public or private program
  • Allow photographs of the activity to be posted to the city’s website and the city’s social media outlets
  • Recognize the City of North Liberty’s Great Neighborhoods Initiative for providing funding for the event

Example of events or projects that will be considered: block party, potluck or picnic, neighborhood garden planting, art projects, ice cream social, outdoor movie night, installation of a Little Free Library or pantry, and other similar projects or programs. Fundraisers, profit-motivated (craft fairs), and political and religious events will not be considered.

Additionally, grant recipients must complete a brief follow-up evaluation for any event receiving grants funds, which includes photographs of event, description of the event, how many people participated and how it helped strengthen the neighborhood.

 

The City of North Liberty will reimburse grant recipients based on submitted receipts or pay vendors directly for the qualifying expenses of approved applications. Invoices are preferred, but credit card payment over the phone is possible, if needed.

Eligible Expenses

The types of expenses eligible include:

  • Food to be consumed by attendees at the event
  • Non-alcoholic beverages
  • Entertainment
  • Facility and equipment rentals
  • Materials/supplies
  • Giveaways/prizes
  • Neighborhood-level advertising/printing
  • Temporary food service permits
  • Arrangements to remove barriers for participation (such as childcare)

Ineligible Expenses

The following expenses will be not approved:

  • Tobacco products or alcoholic beverages
  • Travel expenses
  • Any materials that benefit an individual homeowner verse the neighborhood
  • Regular neighborhood association or homeowner meetings
  • Routine operating expenses
  • Media buys
  • Beverage permits
  • City’s Special Event Permit fee, as this can be waived by the city administrator

 

Funding Available

Funds are available for resident-organized programs or improvement projects taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2024. Neighborhood Ambassadors or residents of a neighborhood with an ambassador vacancy are invited to submit an application.

Up to $400 is available per neighborhood each year. Residents from different neighborhoods are welcome to combine efforts to develop a multi-neighborhood event or project. In this case, neighborhoods can pursue up to $400 each to support this effort.

If these funds prove to benefit our neighborhoods, more funding may be available in the next fiscal year.

Additional sponsors are allowed, as is collecting free-will donations from neighbors, but attendance and participation must be free to all.

How to Apply

At this time only Neighborhood Ambassadors or residents of a neighborhood with an ambassador vacancy have the ability to submit an application. If you are not a Neighborhood Ambassador but you have a project idea, please contact your Neighborhood Ambassador to inquire about your neighborhood’s remaining funds and submit an application.

Applications are requested at least three weeks prior to a proposed event.

Please note that this funding application is not a Special Events Permit application. If your event uses public property (like a park), includes the consumption of alcohol, amplified music, signage, road closures or temporary structures, you’ll need to apply for  a Special Events Permit separately. There is a standard application fee of $50, which can be waived with approval by the City Administrator. You’ll find the Special Events Guide and Application here and city staff can help you navigate the process.

Review Process

The city’s Communications Department staff will review applications on a rolling basis. Funding decisions will be made based on whether activities meet eligibility requirements approved by the Communications Advisory Commission.

Post Event

Applicants must complete a brief follow-up evaluation for any event receiving grants funds, which includes photographs of event the city can share, a description of the event, how many people participated and how it helped strengthen the neighborhood.

Criteria

  • Be neighborhood-focused
  • Take place before December 31, 2024
  • Be held within city limits
  • Free for residents to attend
  • Be inclusive, and open to everyone who resides in the neighborhood, without regard to race, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or any other status protected by law
  • Follow whatever COVID-19 mitigation methods are recommended by Johnson County Public Health at the time of the event.
  • Not duplicate an existing public or private program
  • Allow photographs of the activity to be posted to the city’s website and the city’s social media outlets
  • Recognize that the City of North Liberty’s Great Neighborhoods Initiative is providing funding for the event

Eligible Expenses

The types of expenses eligible  include:

  • Food to be consumed by attendees at the event
  • Non-alcoholic beverages
  • Entertainment
  • Facility and equipment rentals
  • Materials/supplies
  • Giveaways/Prizes
  • Neighborhood-level advertising/printing
  • Temporary food service permits
  • Arrangements to remove barriers for participation (such as childcare)

Ineligible Expenses

The following expenses will be not approved:

  • Tobacco products or alcoholic beverages
  • Travel expenses
  • Any materials that benefit an individual homeowner verse the neighborhood
  • Regular neighborhood association or homeowner meetings
  • Routine operating expenses
  • Media buys
  • Beverage permits
  • City’s Special Event Permit fee, as this can be waived by the city administrator

Neighborhood Event Grant Application

At this time only Neighborhood Ambassadors or residents of a neighborhood with an ambassador vacancy have the ability to submit an application. If there is more than one ambassador for your neighborhood, please only submit one request per event. Applications are requested at least two weeks prior to a proposed event.

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY
  • Up to $400 per neighborhood
  • Additional sponsors are allowed, as is collecting free-will donations from neighbors, but attendance and participation must be free to all.
    Grant funding will not be awarded to events that have a financial barrier for residents to participate.

Regardless of an event receiving grant funds or not, the City of North Liberty Communications department is available to assist Neighborhood Ambassadors with their neighborhood event(s) in the following ways:

  • Provide guidance for submitting a Special Events Permit
  • Help navigate roadblocks in the planning process
  • Provide introductions to public safety personnel and other relevant city staff
  • Loan various event equipment:
    • (2) 10×10 tents
    • Fire extinguishers
    • Bar top
    • Extension cords
    • Barricades
    • Slow down signs
    • Stopwatches
  • Marketing
    • Create limited design work (posters, Facebook event image, etc.), if a staff time allows
    • Take photos and/or video day of the event, if staff time allows

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