Where Stamford spent $75K in community grants
STAMFORD — Community groups will install new signs, pay for event speakers and purchase supplies thanks to money awarded through Stamford’s 2022 Community Micro-Grant Program.
Through the initiative, designed to fund projects that beautify or significantly contribute to the quality of life in city neighborhoods, Stamford gave small grants to 19 organizations.
During this year’s award cycle, city officials said they prioritized projects and enhanced public space in Stamford by creating activities in “underutilized” places, beautification and infrastructure improvements. The awards, totaling $75,000 ranged from $1,000 to $10,000.
Some 23 community groups applied for the grant.
“The number of applications received demonstrates the passion and ideas that so many residents have for our city,” Mayor Caroline Simmons said in a press release.
Pollinator Pathway Stamford — an organization dedicated to enhancing and expanding the amount of local space friendly to pollinating birds, bees and butterflies — was one of the community groups that secured grant money. With it, the group was able to add to pollinator gardens filled with native plants in Kosciuszko Park in the South End and Chestnut Hill Park in North Stamford. The $4,370 grant Pollinator Pathway Stamford received from the city helped the group purchase plants for three distinct gardens at Kosciuszko Park that the organization completed in the spring and summer, co-chair Melanie Hollas said. At Chestnut Hill, efforts are still ongoing. From 9 a.m. until noon Sept. 24, the group will meet to plant birdfriendly shrubs in an effort to create a habitat for songbirds.
Gardens also are front of mind for the West Side-centric community group Take Back Carwin Park. The organization secured $2,500 for a community garden on Spruce Street accessible through the Martin Luther King Apartments on Stillwater Avenue.
But beyond creating the garden, Take Back Carwin Park has its eyes on educating the community about the value of agriculture, said longtime member Bonnie Kim Campbell, who serves on the Board of Representatives.
“We came up with this idea to teach children about organics,” she said. So far, the response has been nothing but positive.
The city disbursed the microgrants in July, mayoral spokesperson Lauren Meyer said.
All the organizations that secured grants had to work with financial partners if they weren’t registered as a nonprofit group. Pollinator Pathway Stamford, for example, partnered with the Downtown Special Services District. Take Back Carwin Park partnered with the North Stamford Community Church.
Under Mayor David Martin’s administration, the program, founded in 2017, operated as the Neighborhood Grant Program.