Macon, Ga. – Nineteen projects to enhance historic College Hill received $203,900 today as part of the Knight Neighborhood Challenge, a grant program to fund residents’ best ideas for strengthening a sense of place in the area.
The awards in this second round of the challenge range from $450 for cleaning up graffiti to $94,518 for creating a design plan for Tattnall Square Park. Recipients are both residents of the College Hill area and Macon’s established institutions. They offered ideas to increase safety, cleanliness and green living, to boost public spaces and to contribute to the creative side of this historic link between downtown Macon and Mercer University.
Among the projects are:
- Creating an agility course, sculpture and outdoor furniture for the popular Tyler’s Place Dog Park.
- Providing residents with free, energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs to use outdoors from dusk to dawn to brighten public streets and help residents feel safe.
- Converting old cigarette machines to sell seed packets and locally made art.
The complete list is below.
The Neighborhood Challenge was launched in June 2009 with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Macon is taking a major step toward revitalizing College Hill with $5 million in grants from the foundation. They include $2 million to Mercer University to form the College Hill Alliance and $3 million to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to administer the Knight Neighborhood Challenge.
The effort complements Knight Foundation’s goal of fostering informed and engaged communities, said Beverly Blake, Macon program director for Knight Foundation. “The beauty of the Knight Neighborhood Challenge is that it is resident driven,” Blake said. “The program truly engages the community to fund the best ideas for improving College Hill and Macon.”
The community foundation received 60 applications requesting more than $1.6 million.
April 30, 2010, Grantees:
College Hill Alliance $94,518
- Tattnall Square Park Improvements: Design Phase To implement the design phase of the College Hill Master Plan’s improvements for Tattnall Square Park.
Rebuilding Macon Inc. $25,000
- “Macon” a Difference in the Corridor To beautify and restore the homes of elderly and disabled homeowners in the College Hill Corridor– ensuring that they are warm, safe and dry.
Historic Macon Foundation $21,950
- Tyler’s Place Dog Park Improvements To employ a local artist to create an agility course, furniture and sculpture for Tyler’s Place Dog Park.
College Hill Alliance $18,500
- Second Sunday Brunch To offer free live concerts, one Sunday a month, which will continue to attract a diverse audience to the College Hill Corridor.
Macon Outreach at Mulberry $10,000
- Macon Outreach Community Garden To establish a community garden and compost area that will bring a vibrant new use to an empty lot. The harvest will be dedicated to feeding the hungry in Central Georgia.
ELucas Consulting, Inc. $6,500
- Cotton Avenue Revival Festival To remember and relive the rich history of the historic Cotton Avenue area with a festival offering music, arts and entertainment.
Centenary United Methodist Church $6,190
- Beall’s Hill Garden: Safe, Clean and Branded To install historically appropriate fencing, raised beds and signage in Beall’s Hill Garden.
Nathan Dees $5,000
- Cops on the Hill To establish a fund to provide down payment or deposit assistance for law enforcement officers who choose to live in the College Hill Corridor.
Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission $3,716
- Corridor Event Recycling Bins To purchase recycling bins for use at events within the corridor. The bins will be orange and feature the College Hill Corridor logo.
Mercer University $3,200
- Energy Audit of Tattnall Square Presbyterian Church To conduct an energy audit of Tattnall Square Presbyterian Church by Mercer University School of Engineering faculty.
Heather B. Cutway $2,150
- We’ll Leave the Light On! To help light the way efficiently while making people feel safe by giving residents energy-efficient, fluorescent lights to display outside their homes from dusk to dawn.
James E. Waldron $1,000
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Composting Analysis and Design for Mercer Village To design an appropriate, user-friendly and adaptable composting facility for the Mercer Village area.
Mercer University $890
- Energy Audits for College Hill Corridor To offer energy audits of homes in the College Hill Corridor area performed by Mercer University School of Engineering students.
Heather B. Cutway $700
- Urban Hikes in the Corridor To provide guided, one-hour walks in the corridor with an expert on the College Hill area.
Pam Thomasson $689
- Ocmulgee Bird points the way to Macon’s Indian Mounds To provide a better sign leading to Ocmulgee National Monument.
Lee A. Johnson $528
- Graffiti Control Patrol To paint over gang graffiti on buildings, streets and traffic signs.
Aaron Zaritzky $450
- “No Trash Dumping” Sign in Beall’s Hill To help neighbors in Beall’s Hill install a “No Trash Dumping” sign near an entry to their neighborhood
Nathan Dees $450
- College Hill Graffiti Cleanup To initiate weekend volunteer graffiti clean-up projects.
About Knight Neighborhood Challenge
The Knight Neighborhood Challenge is a broad-based, competitive grant program that funds the best ideas – small and large – that give College Hill a sense of place, spruce up its parks and public spaces or enhance the arts and entertainment scene. The effort also aims to get residents involved in College Hill through an array of civic and cultural projects. Successful projects will respond to community needs and opportunities within the five areas identified in the College Hill Alliance Master Plan. They will be programmatic in nature, will have a well-developed plan for sustainability, will involve teamwork, will be citizen-led and will be inclusive. They may not be political or discriminatory. Guidelines and online applications are available at www.cfcga.org/knc, and the next deadline is Oct. 15, 2010.
About Community Foundation of Central Georgia
The Community Foundation of Central Georgia was founded in 1993 by a group of citizens interested in encouraging philanthropy and strengthening communities. Since then, the foundation has awarded more than $35 million in grants through its donor-advised, unrestricted, designated, field-of-interest, scholarship and organizational endowment funds. As a local center for philanthropy, the Community Foundation of Central Georgia works with individuals, families, corporations, private foundations and nonprofit organizations to carry out their charitable objectives and address emerging community issues. It is one of more than 700 community foundations in the country.
About John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational
change.
Contact:
Julia Wood, Director of Donor Services
Community Foundation of
[email protected]