The Community Project is a Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health grant program that unites community leaders to define, design and create outdoor public spaces that bring people together.

The program was created in 2022 after we listened to city leaders across Idaho who told us they were seeing a divide in their communities. This resulted in a lack of municipal pride with some residents missing a connection with the community. Some of the impacts from feeling a lack of belonging are depression and mental health issues, which can affect children and adults.

The Community Project gives the city a chance to unite the community around something positive, in this case, an outdoor public space.

But The Community Project is not just a grant for a park, it’s a community grant where members of the community are asked for their opinions on what they’d like to see in the project. The idea is if people feel heard, they’ll feel like valued and be excited. This can lead to restoring community pride and the sense of belonging.

Community engagement is an important part of The Community Project grant process.

The cities Dayton and Weiser received The Community Project grants in 2024. City leadership has been working with our team, learning the importance of civility and engaging a broad swath of community residents. We cocreate customized communications tools with the city and provide core funding for the project that is defined by the community.

Community engagement is critical, which is why it happens in a variety of ways. There are digital surveys and in-person interactions. Our team traveled to both cities recently to engage with residents to find out what they wanted to see result from The Community Project. We set up at a variety of places in town, including grocery stores, parks, and at school.

We decided to attend one of the most unifying community events — a high school football game under the Friday night lights in both communities. We heard from families who told us what they liked about their communities and what they hoped to result from The Community Project.

Community engagement was a success, as were the outcomes of the football games. Both communities’ teams scored impressive victories.

We look forward to see how each city takes what was learned from the community engagement and chooses what The Community Project will look like in their city.