Round 1, 2024 Grant Awards

The Urban Action Network was proud to award three micro grants in 2024 – one to the Pioneer Park Homeowner’s Association, another to the Ernie Bankhead Neighborhood Association and one to Creative Reuse Marketplace.

With their funds, Pioneer Park plans to purchase 2 outdoor mounted lighted emergency phones to call for help, provide a bicycle safety class and bike giveaway for 10 kids and create a neighborhood maintenance crew made up of 5-10 members, called “Pioneer Park Go Getters” to help neighbors who need temporary assistance keeping up their property.

Ernie Bankhead plans to clean up fence lines at sidewalks along the neighborhood where weeds are overgrown and prevent a smooth walkway, bring in help to keep the empty lots free from fly dump rubbish as it occurs and prune overgrown trees that are on power lines and/or leaning over into the street.

We are proud to award the Creative Reuse Marketplace (CRM) a $4,000.00 grant to support their Art-Based SEL Alternative School Program. CRM is a is an all-female governed and operated 501 ©3 charitable and educational organization fostering community responsibility, environmental stewardship, and development through donations, creative reuse, and job training for low-income, unemployed, and/or unhoused people in Springfield, IL and the surrounding area.

The CRMs Art-Based SEL Alternative School Program seeks to provide and incorporate art-based programming into the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum – leveraging creative expression as a tool for personal development and emotional intelligence. The program, when fully funded, is expected to reach 50 -75 middle and high school students in SD186’s alternative schools.