FutureHeights awards mini-grants to three Heights projects

An example of a hydroponic garden. Courtesy Fork Farms.

The FutureHeights Neighborhood Mini-Grant program has awarded grant funding to three Heights groups in the fall 2022 round of funding—Oxford Community Garden, Roxboro Elementary School, and the Cleveland Heights Green Team.

Oxford Community Garden, established in 1934 as a Victory Garden, was awarded $1,000 for its Raised to Grow project, which will install raised garden beds to help conserve water and to make it easier for older gardeners to participate. The garden's organizers also plan to plant shrubs, to try to prevent deer from infiltrating the garden space. Their hope is to continue to engage the whole community—everyone from the children in the neighborhood to the eldery—through these gardening enhancements.

Roxboro Elementary School was also awarded $1,000 toward funding its project—Pivot: Hydroponic Sowing and Growing in an Urban School Library—which will bring the capacity for year-round gardening to the students. The hydroponic gardening system, made by Fork Farms, will enable Roxboro students to try their hand at farming, and even take home the vegetables they grow. Roxboro Elementary School is still in the process of raising all of the funds necessary to purchase this system from Fork Farms.

The Cleveland Heights Green Team (CHGT) received $750 for its Sustainability Awareness and Activism project. These grant dollars will be used to support CHGT’s 2023 programming and educational materials. CHGT offers sustainability-awareness programming for all ages, citywide.

FutureHeights' Mini-Grant program offers up to $1,000 in funding for Cleveland Heights- and University Heights-based projects undertaken by Heights community members.

In 2022, the FutureHeights Mini-Grant program awarded a total of $9,700 to 13 Cleveland Heights projects.

The twice-yearly application deadlines are March 15 and Sept. 15. To learn more, send an e-mail to swolf@futureheights.org, or visit www.futureheights.org/programs/community-building-programs/minigrants/.