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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor Recommends $1.1 million for 14 Seattle Neighborhood Projects
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
7/17/2008 2:40:00 AM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peter McGraw, (206) 615-0950
Alex Fryer (206) 684-8358
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Mayor Recommends $1.1 million for 14 Seattle Neighborhood Projects
Community-based projects are matched by $2 million from neighborhood volunteers
SEATTLE- Mayor Nickels announced new funding awards recommendations to 14 different neighborhood projects through the Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund. Each year, Large Project Fund Awards are awarded to groups committed to building a better community by matching the public funds with locally raised money, donated materials, and volunteer labor. These recommendations are forwarded to the City Council for approval.
This year’s recommended awards recipients will include projects from all over the city. The 14 awards totaling $1,132,898 range from $34,750 to $100,000. In addition to the City’s contribution to the projects, the communities will “match” the City’s dollars with local resources valued at $1,717,551.
Recommended award recipients and community members will join Mayor Nickels, Councilmember Tim Burgess, and Neighborhoods Deputy Director Hazel Bhang-Barnett at a Columbia Park ceremony on July 19.
“These award recommendations will put resources directly into the community. From a museum without walls in the U District to expanding an Eritrean cultural center, these funding recommendations are one of the best ways to see neighborhoods coming together to make improvements everyone can see and enjoy,” said Nickels.
“This year marks the 20th anniversary of this program bringing city government and the community together for the common good. Every neighborhood across the city has benefited since then. These projects represent the best in community-government partnerships at the sidewalk level where we live, work, and play,” said Burgess, vice chair of the City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee.
“This year’s awards include great diversity in the award recipients and project types that include expanding services to youth in Southeast Seattle, improving literacy in the Latino community, planning for sidewalks in Greenwood,” said Bhang-Barnett. “We will see results in every corner of Seattle.”
The Large Projects fund is one of four components of the Neighborhood Matching Fund, and provides awards up to $100,000 to support community driven projects that take up to one year to complete. The selection process is aided immensely by the time and efforts of the Citywide Review Team and the City Neighborhood Council, who devote hundreds of hours to interviewing applicants, reviewing proposals and selecting projects.
Seattle neighborhoods have completed more than 3,600 projects in the last 20 years using as little as $100 and as much $100,000 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund.
View a list of the 2008 Department of Neighborhoods Large Project Fund Award Recommendations in PDF format.
Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm.
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Office of the Mayor
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