Community Planning
Launched in 2017, the Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation's Community Planning Grant assists organizations in diverse urban areas to achieve their goals related to community development, housing, historic preservation, job creation, infrastructure, and engagement in the public realm. Emphasis is on place-based initiatives that directly benefit a community and focus on a discrete geographic area rather than citywide programs, however policy advocacy or research proposals may also be considered, provided that they benefit historically under-served communities that may not have access to greater planning resources.
Advocating for Neighbors & Neighborhoods
Organizations are researched by the Foundation Board and invited to make a proposal for this annual grant.
ASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ACDC)
Boston, MA
The Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) primarily serves at the low-income, Asian community of Chinatown. ACDC’s Hudson Street Stoop program is part of the organization’s creative place-keeping initiative, which convenes artists and residents to create a public artwork installation such as “Storytell and Sway,” the inaugural project by artist Gianna Stewart, in collaboration with Chinatown residents completed in 2021. It was done in a way that engaged and empowered residents. At every stage, community residents were central to the development of the project. The BBB Foundation's 2022 Community Planning Grant to ACDC will support the next Hudson Street Stoop artist-resident collective through design, fabrication, and installation.
RIVER EAST DESIGN CENTER
Washington, DC
Back to Basics: Mobile will present topics selected through resident engagement and that are specific to Ward 7 and 8 communities in Washington, DC. With the BBB Foundation's 2021 Community Planning Grant, the River East Design Center designed and constructed a mobile kiosk that can be taken to these communities and used for informal knowledge sharing. We are excited about the ability to relocate planning and development information from traditional public forums that are often dominated by mostly white and mostly male voices. Back to Basics: Mobile aligns with the BBB Foundation's mission by bringing architecture, planning and development information to under-served communities, and positioning the design center as a partner in addressing community specific issues.
PRATT CENTER FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Brooklyn, NY
BBB Foundation grants were awarded to the Pratt Center for Community Development in 2017, 2018, and 2019 for their initiative “Informal Units: the next frontier for preserving and creating affordable housing.” The goal of the project is to develop pathways to legalization for basement apartments in East New York, Brooklyn, and to influence policy citywide. A Working Group of community stakeholder representatives, Pratt Center, and several city agencies came to an agreement on changes to the building code and an administrative process for the implementation of the East New York pilot through Local Law 49 of 2019, which authorized a basement conversion demonstration pilot in Brooklyn Community District 5 (East New York). It was signed into law in February 2019.
