Love Your Block grant awarded to ABC & Trainsong neighborhoods

The Love Your Block project addresses the ongoing challenge of limited community engagement in the Bethel and Trainsong neighborhoods—areas long affected by social, economic, and environmental disparities. Both neighborhoods have faced decades of environmental burdens. Bethel residents were significantly impacted by pollution from the former J.H. Baxter plant, while Trainsong’s only public park remains partially closed due to soil contamination and is surrounded by rail, highway, and industrial uses.

In 2023, the City of Eugene launched a planning effort to identify community priorities in the Bethel Area. While Trainsong Neighbors recently reactivated and Active Bethel Community has been engaged for years, participation often diminishes once immediate issues pass or planning concludes. Without consistent involvement, the community-led actions in the new Bethel Area Plan risk slow or incomplete implementation. This grant funding will serve to support neighborhood improvement.

PRESS RELEASE:

City of Eugene selected to join “Love Your Block” initiative, partnering with community members to improve neighborhoods

Mayor Kaarin Knudson announced today that Eugene has been selected to join Love Your Block, an initiative led by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, to launch community-led projects that improve their cities.

As one of just 25 new local governments from 20 states to join the latest edition of the program, Eugene will receive $70,000 to engage community members in efforts that clear vacant lots, reclaim public space, and better neighborhoods. In addition, Eugene will receive technical assistance from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation and a dedicated “Love Your Block” Fellow. The grant will support community-led activities in the Bethel and Trainsong neighborhoods, which will be supported by the Office of Equity and Community Engagement.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to connect Eugene with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation in this way and to continue to learn from their work,” said Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson. “This will be such a remarkable support to our efforts with the Bethel and Trainsong neighborhoods during these next few years.” 

The new 25 Love Your Block city halls include Albuquerque, NM; Aurora, IL; Birmingham, AL; Chattanooga, TN; Columbia, SC; Deerfield Beach, FL; Dubuque, IA; Eugene, OR; Everett, WA; Frederick, MD; Greensboro, NC; Harlingen, TX; Hoboken, NJ; Honolulu, HI; Jersey City, NJ; La Crosse, WI; Lancaster, PA; Lansing, MI; Macon, GA; Mobile, AL; Newark, NJ; South Fulton, GA; Tulsa, OK; Wilmington, DE; and Winston-Salem, NC.

These cities join a broader national program that, since its founding in 2009, has helped 50 local governments engage more than 88,000 residents across 33 states to remove more than 7 million pounds of trash, clean over 550,000 square feet of graffiti, create nearly 800 art displays, and transform the areas residents rely on. These results have also been shown to build ties between city halls and their citizens. A 2021 study by the Urban Institute found that participating “Love Your Block” municipalities improved social cohesion among residents, increased civic participation, and strengthened relationships between local government and the people it serves.

“Residents often have the clearest view of what their neighborhoods need—and Love Your Block helps mayors and municipalities bring them into the work—and see those ideas through,” Francisca M. Rojas, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins. “That translates to tangible improvements communities want—and that they lead—with their city hall’s support, and shows what happens when local government invites the public in to solve problems and deliver, together.”

For more information, visit https://publicinnovation.jhu.edu/programs/love-your-block/.