A Growth Tool for Urban Core Neighborhoods

The leaders of urban core grassroots neighborhood groups are innovative problem solvers that can take any resource, water it, feed it and grow it into something bigger and better. Never is that more evident than through the Neighborhood Self Help Fund (NSHF), sponsored by the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance (KCNA) and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.

The fund provides small grants to neighborhood groups that then leverage the donations ten times over to create real change in their communities. Throughout the funding process, neighborhood groups also learn important fundraising skills, including how to develop a group project, write a grant proposal, create a budget, track expenses, and report to a funder. Twenty-six local and national funders support the NSHF.

In 2003, the fund celebrated its 20th anniversary supporting neighborhood projects that included flower gardens, welcome baskets, neighborhood banners, safety fairs, mobile crime watches, tool lending libraries, clean-ups, volunteer appreciation programs, tutoring, minor home repairs, and craft classes – just to name a few. Over the course of the past two decades, the Neighborhood Self Help Fund has distributed more than 900 grants to over 200 Kansas City metropolitan low- and moderate-income neighborhood groups, for a total investment of $2.5 million.

What the neighborhood groups have done with that $2.5 million investment is truly astounding. Each project requires the seed money for materials, but the true leveraging of the fund comes into play after the check is cut. Thousands of neighborhood residents over the last 20 years have volunteered their time, participated in programs, cooked meals, provided tools and transportation, built relationships with their neighbors, and offered up their sweat to get the job done. Friendships have been established environments have been changed; neighborhoods have become safer; and children have seen the miracle of volunteerism hard at work.

At the Palestine Neighborhood Center, the NSHF helped to create Thursday morning craft classes for community residents. Sure, crafts are made on Thursday mornings, but so much more is happening there. Some residents have learned to sew, others are becoming more confident in their artistic ability, all are helping each other and building relationships with their neighbors. The crafts are then given to friends or to neighbors in need. They have even been sold to help benefit the Palestine Neighborhood Center. As with all Neighborhood Self Help Fund projects, the fund provided the seeds, and the neighborhood residents watered them and grew them into something quite extraordinary.

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