Building Better Communities (BBC) has recently launched its first neighborhood engagement effort. The first community selected, Knollwood, located in Claymont, will preside as BBC’s initial effort in violence reduction. New Castle County intends to increase community engagement in under-served neighborhoods throughout New Castle County through the next year.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides “a historic opportunity to reimagine the communities in which we live, an unprecedented opportunity to address problems that arose in recent months and divisions that have festered for decades” New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer said. A part of that historic opportunity developed the BBC Initiative. The BBC is comprised of an 8-person commission representative of community leaders and external stakeholders. Their efforts stem from the administration’s goal to address historical inequities and those exacerbated by the pandemic.
BBC has launched a grant application that will and are focusing specifically on organizations who have the capacity to serve residents in Knollwood. Areas of focus include, but not limited to prevention programming, access to youth services, physical and mental health impactful programming.
The Meyer administration continues to create innovative and impactful opportunities to engage with communities. We understand many municipalities/administrations have created violence reduction efforts with varied levels of success. Our position with this effort, the most equipped people to serve the community is the community themselves. With this grant application Knollwood residents and/or organizations that have the capacity to serve Knollwood residents can be the solution.
To learn more about grant application and its eligibility criteria, please go to [https://nccde.org/bbc]. To learn more and engage with Building Better Communities initiatives, the committee meets every 4th Tuesday at 12pm (both in-person & virtual). For further details, click here.