Love Your Block
Applications for Love Your Block are currently closed. Applicants will be notified of their status by July 31, 2024.
Love Your Block is a City of Pittsburgh program that brings neighbors together to improve our communities by combating blight, creating assets, and building resilience, block by block.
Nonprofit organizations across Pittsburgh are invited to propose projects for up to $2,500 in funds. Funding supports volunteer-fueled neighborhood improvement projects.
Projects may include but are not limited to: community garden maintenance, neighborhood clean-ups, or tree and flower planting. Successful projects will build strong partnerships, leverage donations, and most importantly, engage neighbors.
The City will distribute a total of eight awards of $2,500 each.
Applications for the 2024 program are due Friday, June 28, 2024.
Here's How it Works:
Step 1: Community organizations and nonprofits apply for Love Your Block awards of $2,500.
Step 2: Applications close June 28. The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services will nnotify successful applicants.
Step 3: Organizations implement and complete their projects.
Step 4: The City of Pittsburgh will reimburse after project implementation.
If you have any questions or concerns about love your block please do not hesitate to reach out to us at neighbor@pittsburghpa.gov.
Examples of successful projects include:
- Community garden maintenance
- Neighborhood clean-ups
- Tree and flower planting
- Projects involving a parcel of land owned by the City or the community group applying for the grant
We encourage you to steer away from the following potential projects, which have resulted in unsuccessful past applications:
- Painting or otherwise modifying existing public structures like bridges or railings.
- Anything involving a parcel of land whose ownership is disputed, uncertain, or owned by an entity who has not explicitly agreed to its use for the project.
Wondering about examples of successful projects from previous Love Your Block years?
Read on to learn more about Feed the Hood, Knoxville’s Positivity Garden, and South Side Slopes Mission and Barry Streets Beautification.
Feed the Hood was the first project under the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh’s Farm-A-Lot program. The URA and community partners organized to regenerate vacant green space into a place of healing and positive interaction in Homewood North.
Using food and community engagement as the catalyst for this project, the Homewood Parklet was revitalized into an Orchard Park to help meet our mission to build positive relationships between people and food. Maintained green space also reduce violent crimes in high poverty areas.
The Knoxville Community Council applied to maintain the Positivity Garden on Zara Street that was created by neighbors on Zara Street. In addition to making improvements to the garden, the Council wanted to expand its impact by doing neighborhood clean ups with a focus on picking up litter and removing overgrowth throughout the neighborhood.
Grantees have said that without this funding, they would have had to close this garden as they simply couldn't do it without the grant’s help.
In the South Side Slopes, the application proposed a beautification project at the intersection of Mission and Barry Streets at the bottom of the Mission Street public staircase. The main focus was to organize general cleanup, cut back and remove of weeds and overgrowth, focusing on the corner and public staircase along both sides of steps at that location.
