The University of Minnesota’s Good Neighbor Fund has been in existence for 17 years and remains a means for the university to support neighborhood organizations in their neighborhood beautification efforts.
Melisa López-Franzen, the university’s executive director of government and community relations, said local neighborhood and business groups are eligible to apply for funding and need to follow a few simple steps to do so. That’s what it means.
Franzen said in a statement that the Good Neighbor Fund created the stadium, which was eventually named Huntington Bank Stadium, in 2007 with a state grant out of concerns about how it would impact the surrounding area. He said it started in .
If an independent nonprofit organization wishes to apply, it must partner with a neighborhood association.
Once an organization submits an application, the Good Neighbor Fund team will evaluate the project based on benefits to the stadium area, broader impact on the neighborhood, and feasibility. Projects that meet these requirements will be funded.
Franzen said in a statement that since the grant’s inception, the university has donated more than $1 million to local community organizations through the fund. This year’s total Good Neighbor Fund is expected to be approximately $100,000.
Past projects funded through the Good Neighbor Fund have included security efforts and adding more bike racks. In 2017, the Dinkytown Business Alliance won a Good Neighbor Fund to save the 10-year-old mural.
Southeast Como Improvement Association board member Claire Tefein said she would like to see funding for a project to educate students about the newly formed East Bank Neighborhood Partnership.
Chris Lautenschlager, executive director of the Mercy Holmes Neighborhood Association, said the grant was intended to deepen the university’s relationship with the surrounding community.
“They believed it would have a significant impact on the neighborhood,” Lautenschlager said. “Whether it’s quality of life, whether it’s graffiti, whether it’s vandalism, whether it’s loitering, whether it’s intoxication. They had a lot of concerns because the stadium is located in a neighborhood.”
Kathy Knudson, director of the Southeast Como Improvement Association, said the grant will help bridge the gap between college students who live in the neighborhood and their typically older neighbors who are not college students.
“I think the group comes together really well, especially with some of the events we’ve had like the art fair in the park,” Knudson said. “At that time, we worked very closely with off-campus residents, so we had a lot of student volunteers, some of them old-timers.”
Lautenschlager said people who live near the university can still apply for funding as long as they partner with local neighborhood groups.
Tefein said area residents with ideas for potential projects should contact their local neighborhood association.
“Someone will contact the right people to implement your idea,” Tefein says. “There is sufficient funding for small projects and we welcome community input on these projects.”