Blue Rapids Community Action Team (BRCAT) has recently started on a sunflower mural that is located, as you enter from the highway and are heading to the town square, on the west side of the street. The mural is expected to be completed in October. According to Laura Musil, BRCAT chose the sunflowers after their 150th Anniversary a few years ago. "We incorporated a sunflower in our logo at that time of the celebration, and the BRCAT has a sunflower logo as well. It's Kansas. It goes well with the color blue (Blue Rapids) and it's happy." The mural has been a great addition to the community so far!

Independence reports in the previous quarter that they've had great success with their Love Independence Day service projects. Over 45 projects took place with at least 2,434 volunteer hours logged. Some of the projects included homes in town that were sponsored to be painted by local businesses. They also painted 55 fire hydrants.

The Rural Grocery Initiative is excited to announce the National Rural Grocery Summit will be held June 24-25, 2024, at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa in Montgomery, Alabama. 

The National Rural Grocery Summit is the premier networking and resource-sharing venue for independent grocers and rural food access stakeholders. It brings together grocery store owners and managers, community leaders, food suppliers, academic researchers, healthy food access stakeholders, policy makers, and funders to connect, share lessons learned, and innovate around best practices for sustaining locally-owned rural grocery stores and improving access to healthy food in rural communities. 

For the first time ever, the summit will be held outside of Kansas and will be co-hosted by the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University and the Hunger Solutions Institute at Auburn University. Please plan to join us next June in Montgomery! 

For more information on the Summit, visit www.ruralgrocery.org/summit. To stay up to date on registration and the call for proposals, join the Rural Grocery Initiative newsletter list. 

Don't forget to register for our Grant Writing Workshop! We're hosting a grant writing workshop in partnership with K-State Research and Extension on December 5th and 7th from 6:00-8:30 PM. This two-night workshop is being offered in response to requests to have an evening offering instead of the traditional daytime events.

Thanks to additional funding pledged by the Kansas Department of Commerce, the first twelve registrants representing Kansas Community Empowerment committees are eligible for a reimbursement scholarship upon completion of the workshop. Email Jan at jmsteen@ksu.edu after you register to get on the list.

If you're looking for project funding outside of the Kansas Community Empowerment program, here are some potential opportunities:

PeopleForBikes’ Bike Industry Community Grant program supports bike infrastructure projects and targeted initiatives. Grant amounts range from $5,000 to $10,000 for projects such as trails and paths, bike parks, land acquisition for infrastructure, and local events. You can find out more about the program and eligibility on their website. Deadline to submit a letter of interest is October 20, 2023 with a final application deadline of November 20, 2023: https://www.peopleforbikes.org/grant-guidelines

The Institute of Museum and Library Services offers a Museums for America grant. This grant is for $5,000 to $250,000 and supports museums of all sizes and disciplines serving the public through exhibitions, educational programs, digital learning, professional development, community dialogue, and collections management – to name several areas. Their three project categories in this application are Lifelong Learning, Community Engagement, and Collections Stewardship and Access. Application deadline is November 15, 2023. You can find out more here: https://www.imls.gov/grants/available/museums-america

Kids Gardening has grants available that support school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life in communities and for the students. The 2024 grant cycle opens on November 6, 2023: https://kidsgardening.org/grant-opportunities/

Additional Funding Resources

Is your community looking for funding to help with certain projects? Let us know what the project is, how much you're seeking, and what your timeline looks like. We have access to multiple external grants databases and likely can give you some links to potential funding sources. Just email us at KSCE@ksu.edu with your request and project idea. If you've utilized Jan for grant searches - KCE/PRIDE community or otherwise - please report back to us on any successes you might have so we can determine effectiveness and continue to provide this service.

You can also reach out to your local Extension office which should have access to the database as well. - Jan Steen, Kansas Community Empowerment Program Co-Coordinator, jmsteen@ksu.edu

Events Calendar

Quarterly Report Due Dates:

• October 15th, January 15th, April 15th, July 15th

A reminder that you can get to the reporting database here: https://reports.kce.k-state.edu/

Awards Deadlines:

• May 1st, September 1st

Don't Forget the Annual Review!

In case you missed our announcement last month, we wanted to make sure you get to see the 2022-23 Annual Review. It's hosted on our website in PDF format. It can be a great tool for you to engage with current and potential partners as it highlights inspirational projects and grant opportunities!

You'll also find previous reviews going back to the 1990s where you can read about how community volunteers have been working to improve the quality of life across the state for decades.