Community Grants Awarded

2009 Community Grants Awarded

$9000 was made available through the Forestville Community Fund (FCF) for this current round of grants. Seven grant applications asking for total of $12,150 were received. Each was unique and offered a significant contribution to our community.

The FCF Advisory Committee carefully considered the proposals and gave priority to those that would: serve “downtown Forestville;” impact the most people; and/or “match” dollars from other sources; and/or involve collaboration with other groups or projects; and/or have a volunteer component within the project.

Finally, five projects were recommended to the FPA Board which approved all five.

The five recipients of the grants are (in random order):

$3250 to the Forestville Fire Protection District to complete the installation of a fire and drought resistant demonstration garden in front of the fire house.
$1000 to the Victory Garden Project to purchase materials and supplies for four major gardens as well as home gardens for the Food Closet, which provides food for local people in need.
$1200 to The Landing for the purchase of a computer work station with word processing and internet access for this after-school program serving all interested 6-12th graders at the Methodist Church.
$2000 to Beautify Forestville to design and paint a mural of the Town and environs. It is proposed for the blank exterior wall adjacent to El Molino Pharmacy (i.e. as you face the Store, the wall to the left of the front door and windows, facing the parking lot). The design will be submitted to a joint meeting of the FCF Committee, the FPA Board, and the Chamber of Commerce Board for review and approval. If you would like to participate in this review, please contact me at richard@forestvillefpa.org.
$500 for Downtown Clean-Up, a project that will monitor the downtown (Mirabel Road/Hwy 116 to Covey Road/Hwy 116) on a twice a month basis during the non-rainy season to remove trash and debris.

The FCF does not have enough funds to finance the general budgets of ongoing programs. Our hope is to help one-time initiatives which then can develop other community support, as needed.

Downtown Clean-Up was fully funded by the FCF in 2008 for $1000 as a demonstration project in hopes of drawing community interest and financial support to make it ongoing. This year’s $500 grant is a matching fund which will match private donations up to $500. As of this date, the matching $500 has already been donated by local businesses and individuals.
A sixth proposal for $1800, the Green Valley Creek Demonstration Project, could not be recommended by the Committee because it did not meet the criterion of being in “downtown Forestville.”Because the Creek’s health has been directly affected by the adjacent quarries (and the funds for the FCF primarily are from quarry mitigation donations), the FPA Board, after approving the FCF Committee’s five recommendations for funding, decided to take an additional $500 out of contingency funds as a matching grant for the Creek Project.The Martinelli Family Trust then generously donated $500 to make that match. Hence, $1000 had been granted to the Creek Project. Further tax deductible donations for the Green Valley Creek Demonstration Project may be made through the FPA, P.O. Box 184, Forestville 95436.

The FPA thanks the members of the FCF Committee for their hard work, their fairness, and their vision for our community. Committee members represent a range of community interests such as the schools, seniors, Chamber of Commerce, Youth Park, local businesses, and interested citizens.

Money for the Forestville Community Fund initially was established through a Good Neighbor Agreement between the BoDean Company (owner of the Blue Rock Quarry), Forestville Citizens for Sensible Growth and the Forestville Planning Association.

The BoDean Company has agreed to make a yearly contribution to this fund based on ton of product sold for the next twenty years. In addition, several individuals, interested in the benefit of their community, have contributed to the Fund.

The Forestville Planning Association, trustee of the Fund, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Donations to the Forestville Community Fund (through the FPA) are tax deductible.