The Quality of Place Grant Program is a new competitively awarded program administered by the City of Covington that supports the Economic Development Department’s Strategic Focus on “Experiencing Covington” and embraces Manifesto.
Donor Name: City of Covington
State: Kentucky
City: Covington
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/18/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,000 to $30,000
Details:
The program’s goal is to provide flexible funding, through a simple application process, to recipients who have ideas on how to creatively enhance the physical appearance of Covington’s business districts and nodes, while building on a sense of place.
Recipients can be Covington businesses, groups of businesses, business organizations, residents or resident-led neighborhood/community groups (either formal or informal). Projects can be new works of public art, public gathering spaces, interactive displays, and more.
Funding Information
- The City has allocated approximately $125,000 for this fiscal year.
- Grants can be made for amounts from $1,000 to $30,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants to the program may be a Covington business, groups of businesses, business organizations, residents, or resident-led neighborhood/community groups as long as the application meets the City’s Criteria. All applicants are strongly encouraged to seek opportunities to collaborate with an existing business or neighborhood association, a Covington business, Covington artists, etc. The city will prioritize spreading. funding out across as many business nodes and districts as possible, so it is to your advantage to collaborate and consolidate applications where possible.
- Other City Department Assistance/Approval
- If another City department is required to approve the project or perform any activity, the applicant should discuss the request with that department prior to submitting the application. Formal approval of any request must be in place before the grant agreement will be executed but it isn’t necessary to have approval prior to the application. Examples might include Public Works installation of a water fountain or street pole banners, approval to install a mural on City owned property, Right-of-Way Encroachment Permits, etc.
- Public Benefit
- In order to invest public funds as a grant in this manner, the applicant is required to demonstrate a public benefit, such as improved safety, enhanced cultural expression, additional recreational opportunity, etc.
Selection Criteria
Applications for funding will be evaluated using the following criteria.
- Feasibility-Applicants must demonstrate that the proposed project is feasible and that they have capacity to successfully execute it within the timeline of the grant. Owning the property or a letter of support goes a long way in showing feasibility.
- Relevance – Applicants should demonstrate how the project represents or embraces the Economic Development Department’s manifesto.
- Impact-Applicants must demonstrate how the proposed project enhances the quality of place in and around the installation and provides a public benefit. Preference will be given to those projects with the greatest impact around Business Nodes Projects which are three dimensional, provide some functional public benefit or are interactive will rank higher.
- Leverage-Applicants should demonstrate any leveraged benefit. This can be other financial contributions, in-kind donations, or volunteer hours. This could include secured funds for an additional facet of a project, a group that is committed to volunteer ETC
- Inclusion-Applicants should describe how the project will be inclusive reflecting the demographic characteristics of the community.
- Sustainability-Applicants should demonstrate, as applicable, how the project will have lasting impact and be sustained by the community, if intended to be permanent.
For more information, visit City of Covington.
