The Children’s Gateway Garden at Cesar Chavez Park, one of many projects that saw the light of day thanks to the DLBA’s Placemaking Grants. Photo by Brian Addison.

Sean Warner, the Placemaking Manager at the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA), once said, “If you genuinely don’t care for making the place where your community lives more livable, you are at a competitive disadvantage. Bringing more parking downtown doesn’t bring people downtown. It’s people on the streets that attract more people.”

That is the reason behind the DLBA’s Placemaking Grants: to put more people on the streets and in parks through your own idea of what makes a space a place you want to be.

From the grandeur to the grounded, the DLBA’s Placemaking Grants have helped fund projects across the Downtown area and make them become a reality. The Children’s Gateway Garden at Cesar Chavez Park, Long Beach’s first ADA-accessible garden? Check. The Welcome to Pine Avenue neon sign, just south of 8th on the west side of Pine? Done. The golden fire hydrants? Awesome.

Ideas are only limited by the minimum criteria, which is beautifying the public right-of-way while increasing accessibility and public safety.

“The Placemaking Grant Program is an opportunity for the community to make a positive impact on their own neighborhood,” said Julie Korinke of the DLBA. “From urban farms to murals and lighting, these projects help to create a sense of place, security and community pride.”

A total pot worth $30K is available to grant applicants, with each approved project eligible to receive a max of $5K. If you do score the money, the DLBA doesn’t limit their grants to being the sole source of funding for a project, so if you’re thinking big (like the Children’s Gateway Garden), this is one of many steps you’d have to take.

Applications are due Monday, August 11. Click here to download the application.