Apply for the 2017 Atlanta Community Investment Fund

For the third straight year, Casey is seek­ing appli­ca­tions for its Com­mu­ni­ty Invest­ment Fund, which pro­vides small grants — rang­ing from $500 to $5,000 each — to sup­port res­i­dent-led improve­ment projects in sev­er­al south­west Atlanta neighborhoods.

The grants are designed to spur inno­va­tion, encour­age part­ner­ship and sup­port vol­un­teers and grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions to improve their com­mu­ni­ties. Exam­ples of past projects include a sum­mer youth pro­gram focused on res­cu­ing stray ani­mals, a free tutor­ing pro­gram for local stu­dents and a com­mu­ni­ty art project that allowed fam­i­lies from Adair Park to paint ban­ners that were installed on light poles through­out the neighborhood.

The fund, one of only a few local grant oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able to groups with­out non­prof­it sta­tus, is open to com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions and res­i­dents in the Adair Park, Mechan­icsville, Peo­plestown, Pitts­burgh, Sum­mer­hill and Capi­tol Gate­way neigh­bor­hoods, known col­lec­tive­ly as NPU‑V.

Among oth­er eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments, projects should:

• demon­strate broad com­mu­ni­ty sup­port and engagement;
• address sig­nif­i­cant com­mu­ni­ty issues and have clear ben­e­fits for the entire neigh­bor­hood; and
• be sus­tain­able beyond the ini­tial Foun­da­tion investment.

The deci­sion-mak­ing board, com­posed of vol­un­teers who live or work in NPU‑V, includes five new mem­bers this year. When asked why he want­ed to serve, 16-year-old Quin­tavi­ous Yarbrough spoke about his family’s deep roots in the community.

“My fam­i­ly has been liv­ing in Peo­plestown for just about 60 years. We’ve seen the com­mu­ni­ty change, for bet­ter or worse. I want to be a part of the pos­i­tive change,” said the youngest board mem­ber. ​“I want to help my com­mu­ni­ty grow and also learn new skills that I’ll be able to use in the real world.”

Board mem­bers will receive train­ing in grant writ­ing and grant coach­ing, and togeth­er will deter­mine which sub­mis­sions receive funding.

A total of $50,000 in small grants will be award­ed this year. The dead­line for 2017 sub­mis­sions is 5 p.m. on Mon­day, March 20.

Down­load the application

Watch a video about past projects

Read about Casey’s work in Atlanta