Thirteen resident-led groups from across the city — including seven in Brooklyn — have been awarded a $1,000 grant to help beautify their blocks and engage neighborhood volunteers to bring about local change.
The Love Your Block initiative, in its 12th year, champions civic engagement by empowering communities to take pride and ownership of their communities, and it has awarded 390 grantees, engaged more than 10,500 volunteers and has leveraged a total of $390,000 to revitalize 20 miles of public space to date, the City said in a statement.
"Our community leaders are the resident experts of their neighborhoods, and I look forward to celebrating how they bring forth their unique visions of beautifying public, shared spaces for the benefit of their neighbors and our city," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
This year, seven Brooklyn groups were awarded the grant:
- Str8OuttaBklyn, Ocean Hill
- Southside Homeowners Association, South Williamsburg
- Flatbush Cleanup, Flatbush
- Crown Street Block Association, Crown Heights
- Lincoln Road R & B Block Association, Prospect Lefferts Gardens
- 300 Halsey Street Block Association, Bedford-Stuyvesant
- 400 Bainbridge Street Block Association, Bedford Stuyvesant
The groups will all receive the support of community volunteers and services from City agency partners including: New York City Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, The City of New York Department of Sanitation and New York City Department of Transportation.
The City said the initiative would help build on the COVID-19 recovery process by "delivering tangible results to communities who need it most."
"In an effort to combat the crippling effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and NYC Service sought to reach more residents and covering more miles in hardest-hit COVID-19 neighborhoods."
Daniele Baierlein and Jorge Luis Paniagua Valle, co-executive directors of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, said when residents felt empowered to improve their own neighborhoods and take pride in where they lived, "it not only benefits the entire community, it improves quality of life for all New Yorkers."
"By investing in our city and our neighbors, New Yorkers will, in turn, invest in a brighter and more prosperous future for generations to come, one block at a time."
