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Reno wins additional $60,000 Johns Hopkins grant to expand Love Your Block neighborhood program
Summary
The Reno City Council accepted an additional $60,000 grant from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center to expand the Love Your Block resident-led neighborhood improvement program. Applications for Ward 1 mini-grants run Feb. 13–March 31; budgets are $500–$5,000 and projects must finish by Aug. 31.
Roberto Lara, neighborhood coordinator with Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Reno, said the City accepted an additional $60,000 grant tied to the Love Your Block program and described how residents can apply.
Lara said the Love Your Block program is “a City of Reno neighborhood grant and volunteer program designed to empower resident-led projects that improve and revitalize communities.” The program partners locally with groups such as Reno Food Systems, the Nevada Division of Forestry and Bee Friendly Nevada and is delivered nationally through the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University.
The extra $60,000 supplements an earlier award the city received for Love Your Block. According to Lara, the program funds small, resident-led projects to improve shared spaces—examples from Year 1 included a Yori Avenue pop-up nursery that distributed about 280 native plants and resulted in roughly 75 new trees; an invasive-plant removal effort along Pembroke Avenue that used three 30-yard waste containers and removed roughly 33,500 pounds of debris to protect nearby watershed; a Donner Springs birdhouse project that produced about 120 birdhouses and 20 hummingbird feeders; five Midtown bike racks providing parking for up to 33 bicycles; and a community mural and cleanup at Rising for People Coffee.
Why it matters: city staff said the program leverages grant funding and volunteer support so neighborhoods receive improvements with minimal local taxpayer expense. Lara said Reno was one of 16 cities selected nationwide for the Bloomberg Center partnership.
Who can apply and timeline: Lara said applications for the Ward 1 community mini-grant opened Feb. 13 and will remain open through March 31; selected applicants will be notified by April 22. A separate Love Your Block home-improvement mini-grant application for individual residences is scheduled to launch May 1. Eligibility requirements include being age 18 or older (individuals or groups may apply), permission from property owners if applicants are renters, project budgets between $500 and $5,000, outdoor/exterior-only scope, a requirement to benefit Ward 1, and completion within four weeks by Aug. 31.
City support and application help: Lara said Housing and Neighborhood Development will host open office hours to help applicants and that applicants can book assistance with Dana online through Submittable, the platform used for submissions. He added there are no matching-fund requirements: the mini-grants are fully funded.
What’s next: selected applicants will be notified by April 22. For details, examples of past projects and application links, the city directed listeners to the Love Your Block webpage on Reno.gov.
