$45K for 'Neighborly' projects
North Idaho is receiving nearly $50,000 to inspire kindness among friends and strangers alike.
The Idaho Community Foundation announced "Project Neighborly" grants totaling $135,000, including $45,000 in North Idaho, on Thursday.
Project Neighborly is an ICF program aimed at fostering inclusion and inspiring neighborliness in local communities by providing grants for hyperlocal projects such as neighborhood dinners, gardens, book sharing, artwork and dialogues.
“I really hope the message of neighborliness is exemplified through these projects in our community,” said Adeline Smith, a Lake City High School student and Project Neighborly grant reviewer. “I am confident that these grants will create immense impact for people involved.”
Grantees were selected by local community members.
Project Neighborly was piloted in the Treasure Valley in 2021 and expanded to communities including North Idaho this year.
Local recipients are:
• Arts and Culture Alliance — $1,000 to create a Little Free Art Gallery, a public miniature art gallery that is free and open to everyone in the community to take a piece, leave a piece, both, or simply enjoy the gallery.
• City of Spirit Lake — $4,900 to purchase an outdoor movie package so the city can offer outdoor movie nights in the park.
• Coeur d’Alene Rotary — $5,000 to create a program to match people who have different points of view and allow them to have authentic dialogue. The pilot program would create opportunities to understand what has shaped their matched partner’s views and find their similarities.
• Community Library Network — $5,000 to keep communities connected by providing fun library events and celebrating the unique community.
• Cup of Grace — $4,650 to provide free sack lunches to children every Saturday during the summer, and invite community partners such as dentists, firefighters and others to participate.
• Love Lives Here CDA — $1,500 to recruit volunteers to personalize 5,000 kindness cards and hand deliver cards to their neighbors.
• NAMI CDA — $4,500 to support two events to promote discussion and education regarding mental health awareness and stigma reduction.
• North Idaho Pride Alliance — $3,000 to incorporate a schedule of engaging community activities designed for all ages at Pride in the Park.
• Rathdrum Community Center — $5,000 to bring individuals and families together for a good meal prepared by the center.
• Sanders Beach Neighborhood Residents — $700 to create a Little Library for the growing number of residents in the neighborhoods south of Sherman Avenue.
• Shared Harvest Community Garden — $2,750 to a biweekly pizza party during harvest nights with the neighborhood.
• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Human Rights Education Institute, Museum of North Idaho — $5,000 to support a series of small group discussions about the realities, challenges and opportunities that are part of life in the Inland Northwest.
• The Way Home Church (Benewah County) — $2,000 for a monthly gathering of all women in the UpRiver area to build community, introduce neighbors to each other and dispel the loneliness experienced over the last few years.
About 35 people came together on Feb. 16 in Coeur d'Alene for nearly two hours to share thoughts, ideas and hopes about making their community even better, more welcoming, more open.
The grant deadline was April 8 and many responded.
“I believe these projects will offer our communities a welcome time of togetherness,” said Amy Voeller, Project Neighborly grant reviewer and North Idaho Regional Engagement Manager for Innovia.