Denver Environmental Health’s (DEH) Sustainable Neighborhoods Program is excited to launch the Sustainable Neighborhoods Matching Fund (SNMF) pilot project. SNMF will award up to $2,500 each to three projects in Denver neighborhoods that further community sustainability and well-being goals.

Applying organizations must be primarily made up of members who live and/or work in Denver. Preference will be given to Registered Neighborhood Organizations and neighborhoods-based groups, but place-based entries are also eligible (including business improvement districts, businesses’, and non- and for-profit organizations).

Selected projects will be awarded up to $2,500 per project and must be matched by the grantee in the form of cash, donations of goods and services, and volunteer labor.

To be considered for matching funds, a project must demonstrate its ability to enhance neighborhood sustainability in one or more of five areas: energy, air, water, people and land.  Projects must also:

• Be free and available to the general public
• Be initiated, planned, and implemented by the community
• Demonstrate a community match
• Be located in Denver

DEH will match these projects one-to-one, and will match neighborhoods in the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program two-to-one, not to exceed the $2,500 max.

Selected proposals will have the option of using ioby, a crowd-resourcing platform, to assist in raising the community match. On ioby’s crowd-resourcing platform, residents looking to start a project with a measurable community benefit can collect tax-deductible donations, recruit volunteers, and share innovations with a likeminded and local community.

Proposals are due by 5p.m., Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Visit SustainableNeighborhoodNetwork.org/SNMF to learn more and to apply.

For more information or questions, please contact Taylor Moellers at Taylor.Moellers@denvergov.org or 720-865-5477.

Denver’s Department of Environmental Health became a member of the Sustainable Neighborhood Network in 2013. Denver’s Sustainable Neighborhoods program selected three neighborhoods to participate in the first year, and as of 2016, there are eight active neighborhoods in the program. In the first two years of the program, residents in these neighborhoods led projects and initiatives and organized events and workshops around topics such as energy efficiency, water conservation, gardening, healthy eating and active living, public art and beautification, and much more.

Denver’s Department of Environmental Health (DEH) is dedicated to advancing Denver’s environmental and public health goals. DEH’s divisions include Animal Protection, Community Health, Environmental Quality, Office of the Medical Examiner, and Public Health Inspections.