City of Jackson Announces New Neighborhood Improvement Grant

JACKSON, Tn.-Today the City of Jackson announced its new Neighborhood Improvement Project grant, offered through the Love Your Block program. 39 News was able to discuss the grant with Neighborhood Services Director, Abby Palmer.

“So, this is going to be a great opportunity for businesses, organizations, nonprofits, churches, things like that, so they can approve, apply for grants for community gardens, murals, different types of installation, art, pop up parks. Really anything that they see that could improve their immediate surroundings.”

The City of Jackson is hoping that this new program will help cultivate relationships and encourage people to make the changes that they want to see in their community. Residents, community groups, and businesses can apply for the Neighborhood Improvement grant starting September 25th.

“Basically, organizations will apply. They'll fill out a budget. They'll fill out everything about their proposed projects. So, they'll tell us how they think it's going to help the community, why they think it's needed, how many people they have on board, how they've involved the community.” says Abby Palmer, Neighborhood Services Director.

People in Jackson will be able to decide which projects they would like to have after all the applications are submitted.

“Once we get all of our applications and that period closes, we're actually going to do public voting. So, this is going to be a little bit different than we did with the home repair projects. We really want the community to be the ones to decide what's going to happen. So, nobody up here is going to decide. We're going to put it out to the public and let everyone vote.” said Palmer.

There will be a total of 5 grants and the city will fund up to $5,000 per grant. Applications open on Monday and close October 12th. The City of Jackson will host a zoom meeting on September 29th to discuss the grant and answer any questions.