Title
GCRA Community Partnership Grant Program (B)
Explanation
At the March 15, 2022, Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area Advisory Board (GCRAAB) meeting, a draft of the Community Partnership Grant Program (Legistar #210323) was brought to the board for review and feedback. Feedback was received during that meeting, and the City’s legal department has been incorporated into the proposed Program that was then re-presented to the GCRAAB (Legistar #211245) on June 21, 2022. The GCRAAB unanimously recommended that the Program be brought to the City Commission for review.
The former Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and the current Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area (GCRA) have assisted local non-profit organizations with small-scale grants for events within the District for most of its existence. An example of this is the annual support of the Fifth Avenue Arts Festival. Typically, the grant funds assisted with the fixed costs related to city services required via permit. Examples of these costs include street closures, Gainesville Police Department participation, Gainesville Fire Rescue support, etc.
In the past, non-profit groups would request to address the CRA Advisory Board, give a presentation about their event, and ask for the Board’s financial support. If the event met the criteria of the CRA Redevelopment Plan, the Board typically approved these funding requests. Grant awards ranged from $1,500 to $3,000.
The GCRA 10-Year Reinvestment Plan identified the need for this Program to continue and to develop a formal program for its administration. In its transition to a city department, there was also a need to understand other sources of community grants available from the city to avoid duplication and understand what’s available city-wide to promote events of this kind.
GCRA Staff, in conjunction with Parks Recreation and Cultural Affairs (PRCA), has been working to understand how to help supplement PRCA’s Special Event Additi...
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