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The City of Gary will use the grant funding for resident-led neighborhood improvement projects, technical assistance, and AmeriCorps embedded staff.
GARY, IND. The City of Gary is thrilled to announce that it will participate in Love Your Block, a program offered by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at John Hopkins University. As a participant in the program, Gary will receive $100,000 to support community-led revitalization projects and a Love Your Block fellow to support the city in this work. Love Your Block cities also receive a dedicated AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America), as well as technical assistance and training from a team of civic engagement experts at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at John Hopkins University.
“Garyites love their city, and we know that our residents have creative ideas about how we can clean up and beautify our public spaces,” said Mayor Eddie Melton. “Participating in the Love Your Block program gives our residents the opportunity to bring their best ideas to the table and fund projects that will make their fellow residents proud.”
As one of the 16 newly selected U.S. cities, the City of Gary will join the largest cohort in the history of the Love Your Block program. The program has reached nearly 36,000 volunteers who have revitalized 3,800 community spaces. Love Your Block participants have created 765 art displays, cleaned up 116,000 square feet of graffiti, and removed 6.3 million pounds of trash in cities nationwide since its creation in 2009.
“Each Love Your Block city helps demonstrate one of the most important skills required to drive innovation in city halls - the availability to center resident voices,” said Amanda Daflos, Executive Director of the Center. “We are excited to partner with the City of Gary to build on the successful legacy of support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Cities of Service and accelerate their efforts to partner with communities to drive local impact through funding, staff support, and the public innovation expertise to help sustain resident-led change.”
The 2024-2026 cohort of Love Your Block cities include Allentown, PA; Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Columbia, MO; Dallas, TX; Durham, NC; Evanston, IL; Fall River, MA; Gary, IN; Little Rock, AR; Long Beach, CA; Louisville, KY; Reno, NV; Port St. Lucie, FL; Rapid City, SD; and San Bernardino, CA.
For more information related to the Love Your Block programs or the Bloomberg Center for Public innovations at John Hopkins, visit publicinnovation.jhu.edu/loveyourblock or email the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services at mocs@gary.gov.
