FAQ: The Community Project

What is The Community Project?

The Community Project is a grant program offered by the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health that provides incorporated Idaho cities the opportunity to unite community leaders and residents to define, design, and create outdoor spaces that bring people together. The Community Project is for new projects and those still being developed with community input. 

The Community Project is a three-step process: 

• Identify the outdoor community space 

• Collaborate and engage with community members and groups to cocreate a design and plan for the space 

• The project comes to life through Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health funding

What The Community Project is not?
The Community Project is not a grant for already established projects. It is not a grant for securing funds to finish or start a project where cities don’t need or want public input. This grant is for cities interested in uniting their community with thorough engagement around a yet-to-be started project. 

Who can apply?
Only staff or elected officials of any incorporated Idaho city that has attended the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health’s Community Health Academy are eligible to receive The Community Project grant. 

When is the application period?
Applications open February 1 and are due by 5 p.m. MST, March 1. 

Why The Community Project?
The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health works to create a healthier Idaho by bringing people together and creating partnerships in communities. We take pride in listening to our partners and hear that cities are looking for ways to bring people together for the community’s benefit. 

What types of projects have been funded by The Community Project grants?
Our previous grantees have used funding to accessorize a City Hall courtyard, develop a new park, enhance a paved pathway, equip a downtown-area park and create a space for people to gather near City Hall. These projects all resulted from extensive community engagement. 

What other type of projects could be funded by The Community Project grant?
Idahoans love the outdoors. We envision outdoor projects that would be accessible to all community members, especially families and children. 

That could mean a picnic area, pavilion, splash pad, walking paths, trails, gazebos, community gardens, or something else that a community brainstorms. 

The Foundation will contribute up to $85,000 toward the project. Communities can contribute or seek additional funds for larger projects, but the desire is for the project to be completed in 2025.  

What do cities receive if awarded The Community Project grant?
The Foundation will fund the construction of the project (up to $85,000) and provide a technical assistance contractor to help support community engagement and lead community focus groups. The Foundation will help create communications strategies, including surveys and mailers for communities to distribute, assist with ribbon cutting celebrations and social media support. A focus of this grant is community engagement and cocreating a community space to bring neighbors together, and we’ll be there to support cities in that mission. 

What should cities expect if selected and what obligations do they have in the grant process?
Awarded communities must allocate staff time or find outside support to help with community engagement, which is expected to be about 80 hours over the entire project. The Foundation will pay a small stipend on top of the grant to help support the workload. It is important that the community allows time for deep and thoughtful community engagement to get a wide variety of voices for this project. The focus should be on voices not typically heard at a city council meeting – youth, seniors, and multilingual community members. 

Cities must have allocated space for a project, such as a green space, park, or other site to develop a community project. Concepts need to have some city support already so that the process runs smoothly and can come to fruition in 2025. 

What types of community engagement are expected?
School surveys, focus groups, in-person events, social media outreach, and mailers are ways to communicate and reach the community. This outreach will take place in spring/summer to allow time to decide on a project and get it completed in a timely fashion. 

The Foundation and its technical assistance support will cocreate material needed for community engagement with the city. The city liaison will help create survey questions and offer ways to get their input on The Community Project. 

What types of community engagement are expected?
Cities will be notified in early to mid-March if they have been selected. In late March, the Foundation team will visit your city and launch the formal grant process, which concludes September 30. That’s when the city will receive funding to begin creating the outdoor space.