Treasure Coast Sun

The City of Port St. Lucie has been selected to receive a $100,000 Love Your Block grant from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. This grant will support resident-led neighborhood revitalization projects in communities across the city.

Mayor Shannon Martin expressed the city's commitment to prioritizing residents, stating, “Port St. Lucie is committed to putting residents first. The Love Your Block grants presents an excellent opportunity to showcase our commitment to resident-led community revitalization. We want to empower our residents and promote a sense of pride in our neighborhoods. We are grateful for this partnership with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation.”

Amanda Daflos, Executive Director of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, highlighted the importance of centering resident voices in driving innovation in city halls. She stated, “Each Love Your Block city helps demonstrate one of the most important skills required to drive innovation in city halls – the ability to center resident voices. We are excited to partner with Port St. Lucie to build on the successful legacy of support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Cities of Service and accelerate their efforts to partner with communities to drive local impact through funding, staff support, and the public innovation expertise to help sustain resident-led change.”

In addition to the funding, Port St. Lucie will also benefit from a dedicated AmeriCorps VISTA member and technical assistance and training from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation team of civic engagement experts.

Residents of Port St. Lucie will have the opportunity to apply for mini-grants for neighborhood improvement projects through the Love Your Block program in 2024. The Love Your Block program has a successful track record, with nearly 50,000 community members across various cities improving public spaces, creating art displays, cleaning graffiti, and removing trash.

The Love Your Block program is part of a larger initiative involving 16 cities, including Port St. Lucie, in the 2024-2026 cohort. Other cities in this cohort include Allentown, PA; Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Columbia, MO; Dallas, TX; and others.

For more information about the Love Your Block program or the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, visit publicinnovation.jhu.edu/loveyourblock.