The Hillsdale County Community Foundation awarded $9,000 in grants to four projects aiming to benefit their communities last Thursday, and a Hillsdale College GOAL program won first place and $3,000.
“We wanted to give people a chance who maybe weren’t normally eligible for our grants to show how they love their community or how they would increase love for their community,” HCCF’s Communications Director Amber Yoder said.
The first ever “Love Your Community” grant competition allowed organizations and individuals to submit ideas for projects to serve and celebrate the small communities in the county, HCCF’s Executive Director Sharon Bisher said.
Grant winners included Hillsdale College Career Access Planning, the Jonesville Rotary Club, the Village of North Adams, and the Hillsdale County Great Start Collaborative.
HCCAP received first for its College Experience initiative, which will bring freshmen classes of all high schools in the county to Hillsdale College to learn why they should think about college. According to the project’s description, only 20 percent of students in the county go to college.
“Unlike the regular college visit, it’s geared toward going to college in general,” HCCAP leader junior Alexis Allen said. “We’re talking about 14-year-olds, so I recognize not all of them will go home and start looking at college, but I’d love it if it’ll be in their minds and make the connection that you have to work for your dreams and goals. Our goal is, ultimately, that college acceptance rates will increase.”
Other colleges have similar programs, Allen said, such as Mount Vernon Nazarene University, which is a mentor for HCCAP’s initiative.
“We know it’s an effective program,” Allen said. “If it keeps going, it has the potential to change this culture of not thinking about college.”
The grant will pay for busing the students to campus, small giveaways, and lunch in the cafeteria.
The Jonesville Rotary Club’s Rail Trail, a new walking and biking path that will be built this summer and fall near the railroad tracks, will receive $2,500 for trail enhancements, including a pavilion, picnic tables, benches, and receptacles.
“There’s a lot of excitement about the trail coming, so I think this will provide another opportunity for folks to enjoy it,” Rotary Club Secretary Jeff Gray said.
The Village of North Adams placed third with a proposal to purchase four, six-foot tall lighted Christmas candy canes and bells to decorate street poles on the four corners of North Adam’s square will receive $2,000.
“Right now, we put up some wreaths that are getting kind of old and are worn pretty bad,” Village of North Adams Trustee Allan Rounds said. “It’ll give it more of a spirit at Christmas time and brighten things up — make the community look a little better.”
Finally, Hillsdale County Great Start won $1,500 for its community baby shower on April 25 at Bailey Elementary School, which provides education on prenatal care for pregnant women and those with infants under one year.
“The project came from the data on Hillsdale County showing that 34.2 percent of moms get less than adequate prenatal health care,” Great Start supervisor Ginelle Skinner said.
The baby shower is a free, one-day event and will include breakout sessions led by experts on baby signs, infant massage, and safe sleep. Hosted like a baby shower, cupcakes and other food will be served and participants will play Bingo featuring the names of community businesses. Participants will receive a package with diapers, wipes, and a pacifier.
“The grant will be used to pay for the food and some of the game activities and materials for the event,” Skinner said.
More information and registration is on the collaborative’s website: www.GreatStartHillsdale.com.
Before the four winners were chosen Thursday, the “Love Your Community” contest required project planners to submit their ideas with a breakdown of their project, a budget, and a Facebook description. The foundation posted the explanations on its Facebook page, and the “likes” for the projects counted toward two-thirds of the decision.
“We hadn’t used Facebook like this before,” Yoder said. “We were trying to think of a way to incorporate drawing community support, but also drawing people to the foundation to find out about us because we do things all year long.”
The remaining third of the decision came from the community’s board of trustees who looked at feasibility, organization and planning, and budget, Bisher said.
The foundation says it anticipates seeing the results and impacts of these projects on the community in hopes of holding the competition again next year.
“We want to see changes in those small communities and have communities come together and work together to get something accomplished,” Bisher said. “We hope that this year, they will see the projects and think of something great they can do for their small community in the coming years.”