New & Noteworthy
City of Hartford and Hartford Foundation Announce 2025 Love Your Block Grants
Sixteen community and resident-led projects will receive more than $165,000 in grants.
HARTFORD, Conn — The City of Hartford and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving have announced that 16 community and resident led projects have received support as a part of the Love Your Block (LYB) initiative. This is the sixth year that LYB has offered grant opportunities that bring together city leaders and local residents to revitalize neighborhoods one block at a time.
This year, the program received nearly 30 requests from nonprofits, faith organizations, Neighborhood Revitalization Zones (NRZs), and residents looking to beautify their community and create a sense of unity. Grants recipients were chosen by a panel of Hartford residents, city staff members, as well as Hartford Foundation staff.
From the restoration of a basketball court and labyrinth to painted murals, new landscaping and community gardening, each organization has practical ideas that correspond with neighborhood and city plans, and 16 of them were awarded grants to begin their community projects. Twelve projects received Hartford Foundation community grant awards totaling $155,580 over one year. The four, $2,500 Hartford Foundation resident grant projects will be funded through a pass-through grant to Hartford Next.
"The Love Your Block initiative embodies the spirit of Hartford, empowering our residents to lead the transformation of their own neighborhoods, one block at a time," said Mayor Arulampalam. "This year, with the generous partnership of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, we are investing over $165,000 into 16 incredible community-led projects that will enhance our green spaces, beautify our public areas, and strengthen the bonds that make our city so unique. These grants are a testament to the creativity and dedication of our community, and I am proud of every grant recipient for taking the lead and working to build a more vibrant and unified Hartford for everyone."
“For the past six years, the Hartford Foundation has proudly partnered with the City of Hartford along with community organizations and local residents as they continue to use their creativity and ingenuity to develop projects to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods,” said Hartford Foundation President and CEO Jay Williams. “This year’s projects offer numerous examples of the commitment of Hartford residents to revitalize neighborhoods one block at a time, not only connecting residents with one another, but also building a sense of pride. Love Your Block is effective because it recognizes that residents are the most knowledgeable about neighborhood needs and are best equipped to identify beautification activities. Love Your Block ensures that they have the tools and resources they need to make their visions a reality.”
This round of Love Your Block Community Grants includes:
| Organization | Project Description | Grant Award |
|---|---|---|
| Center for ChildrenÕs Advocacy | Repair/restore the smaller basketball court at Sigourney Square Park in Asylum Hill, encouraging events in the park and supporting youth to get outside and engage in an activity that promotes exercise, teamwork, and skill building. | $25,000.00 |
| Classical Magnet School | Transform a 75 ft x 25 ft exterior wall facing Asylum Avenue into a mural designed in collaboration with students, faculty, RiseUP for Art, and the Hartford community, reflecting the schoolÕs values of academic excellence, creativity, and cultural identity, serving as a source of pride for students and the surrounding neighborhood. The project will culminate in a community dedication event, bringing together students, families, faculty, and local residents to celebrate the new mural and its impact on the school and the neighborhood. | $20,000.00 |
| Connecticut League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Inc. | Revitalization of Wexford Park in the Sheldon-Charter Oak neighborhood through the creation of a pollinator garden with 100 native pollinator-friendly species and creating 2-3 public art installations. | $15,000.00 |
| Friends of Goodwin Park, Inc. | Creation of a labyrinth as a peaceful, meditative place for residents and visitors, encouraging personal reflection and a greater sense of wellness. | $25,000.00 |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Inc. | In collaboration with Green Jobs apprentices through the Knox Foundation, the project will enhance safety and beautify outdoor space to gather for conversation, play, exercise, and being together in nature, The space will include seating, a defined dog walking area and picnic tables. | $10,580.00 |
| Lawson Chapel/Urban Hope Refuge Church | In collaboration with the Heroes of Hope Community Development Center, this comprehensive community beautification and safety enhancement project at the intersection of Westland and Barbour Streets will include greenhouse restoration, farm aesthetic upgrades, improved lighting, community canning program, and flower garden and mural enhancement. | $5,000.00 |
| Maple Avenue Revitalization Group | Beautification project involving the decoration of light poles on Maple Avenue and Barry Square with multi-colored holiday lights to brighten the winter months, providing an attractive environment for residents and visitors. | $2,500.00 |
| Pope Hartford Designated Fund, Inc. | Project will restore, replant, and maintain four flower beds in Pope Park, updating them to make them simpler to maintain. | $15,000.00 |
| Real Art Ways, Inc. | Enhance ParkvilleÕs George Day Park by adding a fence to the north side of the garden, a Òstick figureÓ art project to the fence, garden enhancements, black top painting, and a bench. | $5,000.00 |
| Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, Inc. | Transform the corner of Affleck St. and Ward St. in Frog Hollow, where the substation sits, into a community space that better supports the daily activities already taking place there by providing a community-informed mural centered on unity and belonging, along with a garden, kid-friendly features. | $2,500.00 |
| The iQuilt Partnership | Maintain the asphalt art project originally begun with LYB support in 2021 at Capitol/Lawerence and Capitol/Babcock by repainting eight murals; create a mural on the side of the Capitol Towers (corner of Broad and Capitol), install ten Knox Park planters and provide tree maintenance for five apple trees | $10,000.00 |
| The RiseUP Group, Inc. | In collaboration with CRECÕs Impact Academy, the project will expand a placemaking event hosted in 2023 by transforming 20+ highway support columns under I-84 near Park Street into vibrant, youth-engaged public artworks. | $20,000.00 |
| Resident Grant Project Lead Black Girls Achieve | In partnership with Sacred Earth Lessons, the project will involve the installation of elevated planters containing flowers and herbs at West Middle Elementary School attracting local pollinators, and providing ingredients for cooking, aromatherapy, and holistic healing/health, and to provide the school and community with educational guides, recipes, and lesson plans to maximize use of the herbs and flowers in the planters. | $2,500.00 |
| Resident Grant Project Lead Gloria Jenkins | The enhancement of an "inner city zoo "event in the Clay Arsenal neighborhood to provide for the creation of additional artist-created zoo animals; food & beverages; face painting; and plant creations. | $2,500.00 |
| Resident Grant Project Lead Kamora Herrington | Enhancement and repair of the Labyrinth and Heritage Garden for the Sterling Street Sanctuary and Nature Reserve, a vibrant, inclusive, and healing space off of Albany Avenue. Work includes the addition of a storage shed, labyrinth repair, and seating. | $2,500.00 |
| Resident Grant Project Lead Kathy Evans | Place three flower pots at two intersections, totaling six flower pots and two raised bed planters at Hyland and Rocky Ridge Park in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood. | $2,500.00 |
| $165,580.00 |