Deadline: 30-Jun-22
Applications are now open for the MassDevelopment’s Commonwealth Places Grant Program, a competitive opportunity to advance locally-driven placemaking in downtown and neighborhood commercial districts in eligible communities throughout Massachusetts.
Placemaking is a collaborative process through which people in communities work together to improve public spaces and maximize their shared value. The process facilitates creative patterns of use, and leverages the local physical, cultural, and social assets that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.
Categories
The Commonwealth Places program will make awards on a rolling basis through the following funding categories:
- Category 1: Seed Grants: Impactful placemaking and/or placekeeping is a community-driven process. Seed grants should be used to fund inclusive community engagement, visioning, and local capacity-building that will support future placemaking efforts. MassDevelopment will award individual grants of between $2,500 – $15,000 to projects within this funding category.
- Category 2: Implementation Grants: MassDevelopment will award individual grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 for the implementation of locally led placemaking projects. Grant funding must be matched on a 1:1 basis with crowdfunding. In-kind contributions will not be counted towards the local match requirement for Implementation Grants.
Eligible Locations
- Projects must be sited within “eligible communities,” defined as municipalities with a Median Household Income (MHHI) equal to or below 120% of the statewide MHHI.
- Strong preference will be given to projects sited within downtowns or commercial districts. In rural communities or other communities without a significant commercial corridor, the project must demonstrate a direct relationship to local economic development.Projects may be located in either the public realm or on private commercial property. Projects located on private property must demonstrate a clear public economic benefit.
Eligibility Criteria
Grant funds for projects providing benefits to communities will be available to nonprofit organizations, and community groups, as well as to for-profit organizations under certaincircumstances. Community projects that provide benefits to the private sector must benefit two or more unaffiliated private businesses.
For more information, visit Mass Development.
For more information, visit https://www.massdevelopment.com/what-we-offer/real-estate-services/commonwealth-places