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More than 20 neighborhoods are preparing for the Renaissance Block Challenge.
The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation program to bring together neighbors while making exterior improvements to their homes is now in its sixth year. The pre-application deadline for the program was Dec. 11. Mary Maxwell, JRC neighborhood project associate, said 22 clusters with more than 300 total properties have submitted a pre-application.
Fewer clusters submitted a pre-application for the Renaissance Block Challenge for 2016 than in 2015 when there were 42 neighborhoods that applied. Maxwell said she thinks there are three factors that went into fewer pre-applications.
One was the change in date for the application process. In 2015, JRC received two $250,000 grants from the John Alfred and Oscar Johnson Memorial Trust, which is also known as the Johnson Foundation. In January, John Sellstrom, Johnson Foundation co-trustee, and Carole Sellstrom, Johnson Foundation executive director, made a $250,000 donation toward the Renaissance Block Challenge program, with an additional $250,000 donated toward the program in November. Because of the large donation by the Johnson Foundation, JRC officials were able to start the pre-application process earlier than during the previous five years.
Another possible reason for the drop in the number of clusters applying is the matching grant in 2015 was $2,500 per home and dropped to $2,000 for 2016. In 2015, JRC officials raised the amount of money a homeowner can receive in a matching grant from $1,000 to $2,500 after the Johnson Foundation’s sizable donation. When JRC officials received 42 cluster pre-applications in 2015, it was three times what they had received in 2014. In hopes of being able to assist more homeowners in 2016, the matching grant was dropped to $2,000 in an effort to fund more exterior home renovations.
This year there was also an additional requirement when preparing the pre-application. Maxwell said neighborhood cluster residents were asked to write a short paragraph on how they will become a stronger neighborhood by participating in the Renaissance Block Challenge. Maxwell said in previous years, the short paragraph was only part of the final application process.
”A lot of things on the final application were moved to the pre-application,” Maxwell said. ”They had to write a short paragraph or bullet points on how their neighborhood would achieve objectives the JRC is trying to achieve from the program.”
Also, this year for the first time, there were informational work sessions held at the Lillian V. Ney Renaissance center to assist residents in submitting a pre-application. Maxwell said she hopes this activity will continue in the future years.
”What I had done in the past was go to each cluster to talk to them about their pre-application. So when we had 42, I couldn’t manage the time to get to them all,” she said. ”Through the work sessions, I was able to talk to 12 clusters who attended and helped them understand the process better.”
During the next phase, JRC officials will narrow the 22 pre-applications to seven to 12 clusters. For those that make the final application step, they will need to get estimates for the exterior renovations for each home in the clusters. Maxwell said the final announcement for who will participate in the program will be made in March.
”Not all of the seven to 12 will be granted; we will further whittle down the number,” she said. ”We have a certain amount of funds, so it will depend on the estimates to determine how many neighborhood clusters (receiving funding). We traditionally fund about 75 properties each year.”
Aside from matching grant funding, participating homeowners have access to discounts from sponsoring hardware stores and garden centers as well as discounts on coordinated purchasing of materials, services and design.
Since 2011, 27 clusters have participated in the program, with almost 300 property owners investing more than $775,000 in exterior improvements and repairs.
The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation is a nonprofit organization that supports downtown and neighborhood revitalization in Jamestown by promoting reinvestment, stakeholder engagement and innovation. For more information about the Renaissance Block Challenge, visit jamestownrenaissance.org.