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BEAUTIFICATION GRANTS
Applications for the Spring 2009 – Cycle 28 grant are
currently being accepted.
All applications must be received by January 29, 2010 @ 5 PM.
Do you have a really beautiful idea for your neighborhood?
Do you know of an area that needs
landscaping, or would be perfect for a garden?
Here's what you can
do:
- You can do what thousands of other residents
have done, by getting plants and materials in exchange for your
volunteer planting and maintenance efforts.
- Projects must be within the city limits of San Jose, and in
a highly visible public area.
- Schools, nonprofits, and other neighborhood
organizations who wish to help foster community pride in San Jose are
eligible.
 Basic
Philosophy
Keep San Jose Beautiful provides
matching grant support to nonprofit organizations, neighborhood
associations, schools and other community organizations who wish to help
foster community pride in San Jose through beautification or landscaping.
Grant
Range
Grants generally range from $500-$3,500.
Funding is to be matched by volunteer efforts and/or matching cash
donations.
Grant Limitation
Projects must be within the city limits
of San Jose.
Please be advised that Federal and State Constitutions restrict the City's
ability to award grants for the improvement of church property and
religious schools.
Application Procedures
Keep San Jose Beautiful awards grants twice
a year, once in the fall and again in early spring. Applications may be
obtained by calling the Office of Keep San Jose Beautiful at 408-723-1574 .
We can mail, fax or email the application to you. Then simply follow the
instructions in the application packet. Each eligible applicant will be
required to appear before our volunteer Grant Review Committee for a short
presentation and to answer questions about their proposal. Approval is
given by the Keep San Jose Beautiful Steering Committee at its regular
meeting of the third Wednesday of the month.
If you have an idea for a project but
need some help to further develop it or have questions about the
application itself, Grant Application Workshops will be provided on:
Thursday, January 7, 2010 @ 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Saturday, January 9, 2010 @ 12 – 2 PM
Workshops will be held at the Neighborhood
Development Center,
1601 Foxworthy Ave,
San Jose, CA
95118. Please call (408)723-1574 to
register. Workshops with low
enrollment are subject to cancellation.
Areas of Interest
Primary areas of interest are highly
visible sites to be enjoyed by the public, which include:
- Theme, cultural or educational gardens
- Plants and materials to support the plants
- Life
Lab projects that teach science, nutrition and horticulture
- Public art pieces which reflect a theme
consistent with the San Jose Beautiful Basic Philosophy above
Matching Grant Information
As an incentive to foster a greater
sense of pride in the community and to re-establish the colorful, fruitful
heritage of San Jose,
" The Garden City", Keep San Jose Beautiful provides grant awards
for beautification projects that:
- Are highly visible to the general public
- Provide educational enrichment opportunities
for residents and visitors
- Are reflective of the specific theme, such
as cultural heritage gardens, rose gardens and Victorian gardens
- Promote and preserve the cultural heritage
of our community
- Promote tree planting and preservation
- Promote stewardship of the environment
- Enlist community participation
- Secure long-term maintenance assurances
Examples of beautification projects
eligible for funding include:
- Landscaping projects, including plants,
trees, containers, walkways, benches, tables, fountains, planter-box
construction and irrigation systems
- Life Lab projects that teach science, nutrition
and the benefits of horticulture through active participation and
curriculum
Examples of ineligible projects
include:
- Requests from individual property owners on
their own behalf
- Tree removal
- Play equipment
- Overhead costs (office supplies, phone
bills, it etc.)
- Tools and equipment
Grant Award Guidelines
- Grants are awarded in amounts up to $3,500 for
the purchase of materials.
- Projects that have demonstrated commitment
from the applicants and the surrounding community are given
preference.
- Volunteer labor, cash or material
contributions from outside sources must equal or exceed grant award.
Manual labor is to be valued at $20.25 an hour. Skilled trade labor
may be valued at prevailing cost rate.
- Applicants are fully responsible for
completing beautification projects. Applicants who fail to start their
project within ninety (90) days of receipt of the grant award or who
fail to complete their project within ninety (90) days of their
estimated completion date maybe required to return the grant award
with interest.
- Where appropriate, applicants for
landscaping projects are strongly advised to obtain assistance from
design professionals before submitting their application.
- Applicants whose beautification projects fit
the basic criteria for grant award are required to make a brief
presentation within approximately two weeks of the application
deadline. Funding recommendations are then forwarded to the San Jose
Beautiful Steering Committee for decision at their next regular
meeting.
- If you are hoping to landscape on City-owned
property, to ensure that your project meets the City's requirement for
landscaping within the street right-of-way, your plan must first be
approved by the Department of Transportation Landscape Team. Keep San
José Beautiful will help coordinate this effort.
As part of your Keep San José Beautiful grant, you are required to
maintain the area for a minimum of three years. At the end of the
three years you may elect to continue to maintain the area. To do so
you will need to become a volunteer with the Adopt-A-Street program.
The Adopt-A-Street program is a beautification program that provides
volunteers an opportunity to help make their neighborhood more
attractive by cleaning and assisting with routine maintenance tasks
and services. This will help ensure your efforts can be maintained
long after the three-year agreement. Otherwise at the end of three
years, without committed volunteers, it may be necessary for crews to
remove some of your hard work as the maintenance can't be absorbed by
City crews due to limited resources.
Standard Conditions
- Grant applicant agrees to acknowledge funding
to Keep San Jose Beautiful in any and all press releases and public
announcements regarding beautification projects.
- Grant applicant agrees to post a visible
sign provided by San Jose Beautiful, acknowledging funding by Keep San
Jose Beautiful. The sign must be maintained by grant applicant.
- Grant applicant agrees to maintain, or have
maintained, that beautification project for minimum of three years
after the completion date of the project.
Application Instructions
- Fill in all blanks completely.
- You must provide a tax identification number
for your organization.
- All attachments must be clearly labeled with
organization, project, date and location. All photographs must be
labeled.
- All diagrams and site maps must show north
direction. Streets and structures must be shown and labeled.
- All documents must fit in a letter sized
folder.
- Return completed applications by mail to the
Office of Keep San Jose Beautiful.
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