FutureHeights awards mini-grants to seven groups

This year's Coventry PEACE Campus Lantern Festival is planned for Dec. 14.

In October, the FutureHeights Neighborhood Mini-Grant Committee convened to consider applications for its fall round of awards. It granted funds, totaling $5,850, to seven groups, to support their neighborhood-level work in Cleveland Heights and University Heights.

Coventry PEACE Campus (CPC) was awarded $1,000 for its “Lantern Festival.” The Lantern Festival brings community members to Coventry PEACE Campus to make art together before they parade into Coventry Village. CPC will use the funds to hire dancers, puppeteers, and musicians to accompany the procession. Funds will also contribute to advance workshops for a small group of arts interns from Heights High who will make individual lanterns for the procession. A dozen nonprofits in the PEACE Campus contribute to the event, providing financial support, food, supplies and music. The event is slated to take place on Dec. 14.

Diaspora Dialogues: A Cultural Literary Experience was awarded $1,000 for its project, “Connecting Community Through Literacy and The Community Arts,” which aims to deepen community engagement with Black diaspora literature. Grant funds will support a range of activities, including the purchase of literary works and the rental of community spaces for events. This project includes monthly book-club meetings, enriched by cultural outings and arts workshops that relate to the books’ themes. Collaborative art sessions and storytelling events will also be funded, to provide interactive ways for participants to engage with and express their interpretations of the literature. 

The Officer Jason West Memorial Fund was awarded $1,000 for its “Police Academy Landscaping Project,” which will focus on enhancing the outdoor space around the Martin G. Lentz Police Academy (2595 Noble Road) through mindful landscaping. It seeks to inspire community engagement from residents of all ages. A key element of this effort involves students coming to the academy to work with the police cadets, intended to inspire young people to get involved, and provide opportunities for the cadets get to know Heights youths.

Oxford Community Garden was awarded $1,000 for “Elementary Gardening”—designing and constructing a plot within the garden to be used  to educate students from Oxford Elementary School. The students will come to the garden in the fall and spring to plant, and return in the fall and summer to harvest. The seniors who regularly tend to the garden will share their knowledge with students. Gardening projects will be available for students and their families.

Gardenwalk Cleveland Heights was awarded $750 for its annual, free, self-guided tour of residential gardens throughout CH. This year, 50 gardens will be open over two days. Grant funds will be used to market the event.

Do Good Day Hub was awarded $600 for its “Coventry Community Fridge,” a publicly accessible refrigerator where individuals and businesses can donate surplus food, and those in need can freely take what they require. Through this initiative, “The Hub” aims to reduce food waste, combat food insecurity, and foster a sense of solidarity within the community by ensuring that no one goes hungry. The Hub will manage the Community Fridge, monitor expiration dates, and prepare meals weekly to be stocked in the fridge. This project will also serve as a key vocational development opportunity for Hub members, who comprise adults with special needs. The Coventry Community Fridge will be located at Made Cleveland, just a short walk from The Hub. The funds from the grant will be used to purchase the refrigerator, a pantry,  cleaning supplies, meal containers, labels, trash bags, and hygiene products.

Ashton Road Events Committee was awarded $500 for its “Ashton Road Block Party.” For 66 years, Ashton and East Monmouth Road neighbors have come together on July 4 for a full day of festivities and community-building. Funds will help cover the cost of flyers, food and beverages.

FutureHeights Neighborhood Mini-Grants are awarded twice annually, in the spring and fall, and support neighborhood-level community-building efforts with awards of up to $1,000. The next deadline for applications will be March 15.  For more information, e-mail to swolf@futureheights.org or visit www.futureheights.org/programs/community-building-programs/minigrants/.