GOALS: The Neighborhood Partnership Initiative (NPI) promotes vibrant neighborhoods that engage their diverse residents, build neighborhood resiliency, and increase the collective efficacy and action in a place. NPI supports place-based organizing partnerships that:

• Increase the long-term involvement of underrepresented constituencies (youth, communities of color, the disability community and immigrant communities) in the leadership and priority-setting of a neighborhood.
• Organize people leading to neighborhood change.

Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to successful applicants for a grant period of April through November 2013.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: Partnerships applying to NPI must include a resident driven organization serving a neighborhood area in Minneapolis or St. Paul and at least one of the following: a Minneapolis or St. Paul organization serving the arts or underrepresented constituencies. Individual artists should apply under the Artists Neighborhood Partnership Initiative (ANPI).

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS:

1. Be place based by serving a neighborhood level geography
2. Identify an issue important to neighborhood residents
3. Organize constituencies around issues important to them
4. Clearly define the collaboration and the respective roles of the partners
5. Lead to the engagement of underrepresented community members in the life and leadership of the neighborhood
6. Contribute to the achievement of goals for the betterment of the neighborhood
7. Funding can be used to build relationships between diverse constituencies or for organizing work on a specific issue within the neighborhood

APPLICATION PROCESS:

1. We strongly encourage you to contact CURA staff to talk about your project
2. Submit a Letter of Interest due by January 11th, 2013

• Provide a brief (one page) explanation of: a) the partnership, including organizations involved, b) issue(s) to be addressed, c) short project description and d) impacts you hope to achieve
• Promising projects will be invited to submit a full NPI Place Based Organizing grant application due by March 1st, 2013

3.   Submit LOI as word or pdf attachments via e-mail to: curacbr@umn.edu

More Information:

Jeff Corn, 612-625-0744, jcorn@umn.edu

Neeraj Mehta, 612-644-7800, nmehta@umn.edu

Ned Moore, 612-625-5805, nmoore@umn.edu