Port St. Lucie - Monday May 6, 2024: The Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University has announced that the City of Port St. Lucie will receive a $100,000 - 'Love Your Block' grant.
'Love Your Block' grants are awarded to municipalities to help fund various resident-led, neighborhood revitalization projects. Port St. Lucie residents will be able to apply for mini-grants for neighborhood improvement projects through the 'Love Your Block' program later this year. The date will be announced once the funds have been received and the application procedures has been set-up.
“Port St. Lucie is committed to putting residents first,” said Mayor Shannon Martin. “The Love Your Block grants present an excellent opportunity to showcase our commitment to resident-led community revitalization. We want to empower our residents and promote a sense of pride in our neighborhoods. We are grateful for this partnership with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation.”
In addition to funding, Port St. Lucie will get some manpower help to carry out its revitalization projects. A dedicated group of volunteers from AmeriCorps VISTA
will be assigned to the City along with technical and training assistance experts from the Bloomberg Center.
“Each Love Your Block city helps demonstrate one of the most important skills required to drive innovation in city halls – the ability to hear resident voices,” said Amanda Daflos, Executive Director of the Center. “We are excited to partner with Port St. Lucie to build on the successful legacy of support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Cities of Service and accelerate their efforts to partner with communities to drive local impact through funding, staff support, and the public innovation expertise to help sustain resident-led change.”
The 2024-2026 cohort of Love Your Block cities include Allentown, PA; Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Columbia, MO; Dallas, TX; Durham, NC; Evanston, IL; Fall River, MA; Gary, IN; Little Rock, AR; Long Beach, CA; Louisville, KY; Reno, NV; Port St. Lucie, FL; Rapid City, SD; and San Bernardino, CA.
Port St. Lucie is one of just 16 U.S. cities to receive a 'Love Your Block' grant award from the Bloomberg Center. Since its creation in 2009. more than 50,000 people in communities nationwide have taken part in the 'Love Your Block' program. They have improved nearly 4,000 public spaces by creating nearly 800 art displays, cleaning 102,000 square feet of graffiti, and removing 6.7 million pounds of trash in their communities.
For more information related to the Love Your Block program or the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, visit publicinnovation.jhu.edu/loveyourblock.