Times Staff Report
Mayor William Bell on May 6 kicked off the Ensley ‘Neighborhood Love Your Block’ weekend project.
Love Your Block is a neighborhood revitalization and beautification initiative where neighborhoods are selected based on application standards which identify a community’s need that can be addressed through volunteer service projects with the goal of creating neighborhood pride and volunteerism.
“Through the efforts of this program, we have been able to activate and energize communities throughout the city,” Bell said. “In the 2016 cycle, 38 neighborhoods were awarded a total of $33,000 to sustain their communities.”
Ensley was awarded $1,500 as a Love Your Block grantee to have a neighborhood cleanup and a banner/flag dedication ceremony.
On Tuesday, the mayor continued the program in the Collegeville neighborhood. Collegeville was awarded $500 as a Love Your Block honorable mention to plant crape myrtles and rose bushes along FL Shuttlesworth Drive in preparation for the bridge opening.
In October 2012 Cities of Service announced that the City of Birmingham was one of 18 cities nationwide to receive funding from the Bloomberg Foundation. Grants from Cities of Service Impact Volunteering fund supports mayors who are harnessing the power of volunteers to address priority problems in their communities.
Cities of Service is a national nonprofit organization that supports mayors and city chief executives to engage local community and residents to tackle issues and solve problems together using impact volunteering.
