Love Your Block Grant Program

The Love Your Block Program is administered by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University and is designed to strengthen partnerships between city governments and residents through structured civic engagement and volunteer-driven neighborhood improvement initiatives. The program provides funding, technical assistance, and strategic support to selected U.S. cities to implement a two-year initiative focused on resident engagement, impact volunteering, and community-based project management. It emphasizes collaboration between municipal leaders and residents to address localized challenges and improve neighborhood conditions. The core purpose of the program is to empower cities to co-create solutions with residents by leveraging community knowledge, social networks, and local leadership. The program encourages cities to identify a pressing public problem within a specific neighborhood, align that issue with mayoral priorities, and propose a structured plan to address it through resident-led initiatives. By fostering meaningful engagement between city hall and residents, the program aims to build trust, improve responsiveness in local governance, and create sustainable improvements in community spaces and relationships. The grant provides a total of $270,000 over a two-year period. This includes $70,000 allocated for program implementation and volunteer-led mini-grant projects, and $200,000 designated to support up to two Love Your Block Fellows who assist with program delivery. A key component of the program is the mini-grant competition, through which participating cities distribute smaller grants ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 to residents and community organizations. These mini-grants fund volunteer-driven projects such as neighborhood clean-ups, revitalization of vacant spaces, and community engagement initiatives, with a strong emphasis on projects that can be implemented safely by volunteers. Eligible applicants are U.S. cities with populations of at least 50,000 residents that demonstrate strong mayoral commitment and leadership engagement. Cities must designate two staff members to serve as program co-leads responsible for managing implementation, overseeing fellows, and ensuring compliance with program requirements. Applicants must also commit to sustained collaboration with residents and demonstrate the capacity to support volunteer coordination, interdepartmental collaboration, and program administration. Cities that participated in recent program cohorts are not eligible. The application process requires cities to clearly define a local challenge, justify its importance, and outline a plan to address it through the Love Your Block framework. Applications are evaluated based on the clarity of the problem definition, alignment with city priorities, engagement of stakeholders, and the city’s capacity to execute the proposed initiative. Cities must also identify target neighborhoods and demonstrate understanding of local conditions and community needs, as well as provide evidence of stakeholder involvement or a commitment to engage them during the grant period. Applications for the 2026–2028 cohort opened prior to June 1, 2026, with the final submission deadline occurring on June 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Selected cities are expected to be notified in August 2026, followed by a contracting period through December 2026. Program activities begin in January 2027 with cohort onboarding and training. The program includes ongoing technical assistance, peer learning opportunities, and access to national experts, as well as participation in convenings and structured reporting requirements throughout the grant period. Throughout the two-year grant term, participating cities are required to track and report performance metrics related to resident engagement, volunteer participation, project implementation, and community outcomes. Funds must be used in accordance with program guidelines, with restrictions on certain expenditures such as routine municipal services, capital campaigns, and projects that primarily benefit private entities. The program is designed not only to deliver tangible neighborhood improvements but also to build long-term civic capacity and strengthen the relationship between local governments and the communities they serve.

Ensure strong alignment between identified problem and mayoral priorities while demonstrating clear resident engagement and stakeholder involvement.