The City of Bellevue has a number of programs intended to recruit citizen involvement in defining and implementing improvements benefiting the neighborhoods in the City. Vuecrest is an active participant in these programs, including: Neighborhood Match Program Each year, the City makes a limited amount of funds (total of about $50,000) available as a matching fund for small projects that Communities undertake. Grant applications are accepted from January through February of each year. Matches can be as high as $5,000. For more information, see the City of Bellevue Neighborhood Match Program web pages. Examples of Vuecrest projects leveraging Match funds:
Self-Funding The Vuecrest Community Association has also self-funded a large number of neighborhood improvements. Among them:
Little Match Program In 2005, the City introduced the "Little Match" program. This program provides small matching funds, up to $250 per grant, to help neighborhoods get organized. Grant requests will be evaluated based on how well they meet the following criteria:
Like Neighborhood Match, applications are accepted from January through
February.
For more information, see the Little Match Program
web page on the City of Bellevue web site. Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) The Neighborhood Enhancement Program. The NEP has been a significant component of the city's overall outreach effort since 1988. Under NEP, funds are set aside for for projects suggested by and voted on by residents in selected areas of the city. Areas rotate, and our Community gets to participate about every four years. There is around $300,000 available for selected projects. The NEP program has been placed on hiatus until at least 2014 due to the effects of the 2008-2009 recession. Our next NEP opportunity is projected in 2016. Vuecrest has had limited success with past NEP efforts. Local Improvement District (LID) For large projects, the Community can work with the City to establish a Local Improvement District. Under an LID, the City passes an ordinance to establish the scope of work, costs, responsibilities and timeframes. Examples of Vuecrest's use of the LID process include:
No LID's are presently in progress or planned. This is no longer a preferred form of funding |