2021 grantees announced
These 12 efforts support people experiencing homelessness, presently and formerly incarcerated people, Indigenous, Black and Latinx communities and BIPOC youth.
Meet the 2021 grantees
Next grant cycle
Applications for the next cycle of grants will open in early August 2021, with grant awards announced in January 2022.
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Metro’s Community Placemaking grants help people tackle community challenges or opportunities through arts-based, equity-focused efforts.
What is Community Placemaking?
Community Placemaking has a few key ingredients. The idea comes from the community the effort is intended to serve. Those community members, especially people of color or other historically marginalized communities, play a role in making it happen. Arts or cultural activities bring people together to strengthen their connection to each other and the places they care about.
Program objectives
Placemaking: People’s connections to each other and to places they care about are strengthened.
Equity: People of color and members of historically marginalized communities have power and resources to influence their neighborhoods and communities.
Partnerships: People’s efforts are maximized because they work in partnership with each other and with Metro.
Leadership: People participate in projects and decisions that affect them.
2021 grant cycle
$193,000 was awarded to 12 proposals for the 2021 grant cycle. Metro received 95 applications requesting more than $1.9 million. Applications were accepted August 3 through October 2. One-on-one assistance was available and encouraged. If you are considering applying for a grant, you can watch a past information session, which walks through the application handbook and other important details. The information presented is the same in each.
Who is eligible to apply?
Community Placemaking grants support community-driven initiatives, and partnerships are key to a competitive proposal. Given that, anyone meeting the following conditions can apply.
Note: All grant-funded activities must take place wtihin Metro's urban growth boundary.
- Community-based organizations with nonprofit status.
- Community groups or individuals without nonprofit status must partner with a fiscal sponsor, such as a state certified, federally approved 501(c) nonprofit or a public agency. Learn more about a fiscal sponsor’s role in the application handbook beginning on page 7.
- Public agencies must have community partners involved in the implementation of the project and a plan to involve the broader public.
- If you are a past recipient of a Community Placemaking grant and your grant was exclusively an event (spanning a single or multiple days), you may not reapply the year following your award.
Past recipients
Community Placemaking efforts are creative at their core and can take many forms. Get started thinking by looking at recipients of the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 cycles to see the range of efforts this program has supported.