The Neighborhood Small Grants Program (NSGP) is designed to strengthen neighborhoods in the City of Knoxville by supporting a wide range of community-based initiatives through grants and technical assistance.
Donor Name: City of Knoxville
State: Tennessee
City: Knoxville
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/24/2023
Size of the Grant: $500 to $3,000 or $4,500
Details:
The program is aimed at resident-controlled, resident-led, democratically run neighborhood groups such as: neighborhood watch groups, neighborhood associations, neighborhood organizations, tenant associations, and homeowners associations.
- The NSGP’s Primary goals are to:
- Encourage neighborhood organizations to connect neighborhood residents with one another — and to engage the skills and knowledge of the residents.
- Build neighborhood capacity to plan and implement neighborhood improvement strategies.
- The NSGP’s Secondary goals are to:
- Increase the number of residents and resident leaders (including youth) involved in responding constructively to neighborhood issues, problems, and opportunities.
- Strengthen each neighborhood’s connection to other neighborhoods, existing community assets, and partnership opportunities.
Funding Information
The City of Knoxville has possibly $30,000 available under the NSGP in the round of grants to be awarded in early 2024 for projects carried out in calendar year 2024. Awards to support one-year projects can range from $500 to $3,000 or $4,500 if partnering with another neighborhood, public school, umbrella neighborhood group, or non-profit
Funds Can Be Used
Here are examples of items that funds can be used for:
- Supplies and materials to benefit the group as a whole
- Equipment that will be used again or that can be shared with other groups
- Printing and copying
- Postage – can include postage for first issue of a start-up or revived newsletter (maximum of one mailing per grant cycle)
- Disaster preparedness items deployed for the benefit of the entire neighborhood
- Consultant fees
- Permit fees
- Equipment rental
- Food and non-alcoholic drinks (Having potlucks can add to the group’s matching contributions either by a dollar amount or time.)
- Project expenses incurred after City Council approves the grant contracts and before the first grant check is issued
- NTSP educational supplies
- Activities for Healthy Knoxville programming
- Activities for Community Wildlife Habitats programming
Eligibility Criteria
- Neighborhood groups that received funding under the previous rounds are eligible to apply in this 2024 round if their projects will be more than half way completed by January of 2024
- Applicants must be resident-led, resident-controlled, democratically run neighborhood groups serving neighborhoods in the City of Knoxville.
- Neighborhood groups can include neighborhood associations, homeowners associations, tenant associations and neighborhood watch groups.
- In the case of neighborhoods that are only partly in the city, more than 50% of the housing units must be located inside city limits.
- Umbrella organizations that are made up of and controlled by member City neighborhood groups, and are democratically run are also eligible to apply.
- A group must conduct a regular election process to select leaders, and this process must be included in the group’s bylaws, with meeting minutes, or otherwise available in written form. (Groups without written rules can submit a statement explaining how they are working toward this goal.)
- A group must have a defined geographic boundary, hold regular meetings as defined in the organization’s bylaws, maintain meeting minutes, and be registered with the Office of Neighborhood Empowerment.
- A group cannot discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or disability when carrying out any aspect of the funded project.
- To receive funding, a neighborhood group must be a nonprofit organization with tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status OR have made arrangements for a Fiscal Sponsor.
- Checking Account: To receive funding directly from the City or through the city provided Fiscal Sponsor (the East Tennessee Community Design Center), a neighborhood group must have a checking account when they receive the first check. However, if you use your own Fiscal Sponsor, you may not need a checking account depending on how your Fiscal Sponsor handles your receipts and invoices. It is not necessary to possess a checking account at the time you submit a NSGP application.
For more information, visit Neighborhood Small Grants.
