Columbia City Council is preparing to embark on a two-year journey of neighborhood improvement projects using a newly received grant to fund several projects across the city.

The Love Your Block grant, funded by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, is a $100,000 award given annually to 16 cities across the United States. Columbia City Council moved to accept the grant on Sept. 3, with plans to launch revitalization efforts in April 2025. The project will continue through 2026.

City Council officials plan to build public parks and launch clean-up efforts in central city neighborhoods between Ash Street and West Boulevard. Events funded by the grant will include litter pick-ups, home repairs and development of vacant lots into public gardens on West Sexton Road. However, for the projects to be effective, they will rely on volunteers from the Columbia community, Leigh Kottwitz, Columbia Neighborhood Services Manager, said.

“It’s got to be more than just city staff coming in wanting to do these projects. We need to have residents also buy into that through their volunteer support,” Kottwitz said. “We want to make sure that whatever activities that we do are things that are important to them.”

Organizations like For Columbia, a Christian volunteer initiative that mobilizes members of local churches for community service projects, and the Missouri Conservation Corps, a volunteer-based group focused on removing invasive species and restoring native habitats, hope to partner with Columbia in Love Your Block efforts. They will have the opportunity in January to apply for mini-grants between $500 and $2,500 to be put towards their own proposals, the grant application said.

University of Missouri student groups will also be eligible to apply for mini-grants, said Jacob Richardson, Columbia’s Love Your Block Fellow, who has been hired to collaborate on project management for the grant. Richardson is pursuing a master’s degree in public affairs at MU. His goals include creating community toolsheds with shared resources and participating more actively in conservation efforts by planting trees.

“If we can use this money to make life casually better for others, I think that goes a long way,” Richardson said. 

Beyond physical improvements, the Love Your Block grant program has a history of improving social relations within the communities that are impacted by the program. The Urban Institute’s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, which investigates the quality of life in American communities through economic and social policy research, found that Love Your Block grants improve trust and strengthen relationships between local government and residents.

In its 2021 formative evaluation of the program, the center wrote, “Love Your Block’s emphasis on strong reciprocal relationships between citizens and city officials who work together closely at the neighborhood level can spark more integrated, citizen-centered reforms and innovations in city policy and practice.”

Kottwitz hopes Columbia will experience these same benefits. 

“Our city volunteers have told us for many years that the social connections are one of the drivers behind their service… that’s the fabric of our community,” she said.

Edited by Maya Dawson | mdawson@themaneater.com

Copyedited by Micah Shulman and Emma Short | eshort@themaneater.com

Edited by Emilia Hansen | ehansen@themaneater.com 

Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com