Four Bridge-area organizations are among the 17 recipients of the City of Minneapolis’ graffiti micro grants, intended to jumpstart projects to prevent and clean up graffiti. This spring, the city awarded a total of $150,000 in grants — up to $10,000 each — based on applications from community-based organizations, outlining their specific anti-graffiti initiatives.

The Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG), Longfellow Community Council (LCC), Lake Street Council and Brian Coyle Community Center were among them.

Angela Brenny, Minneapolis’ Clean City coordinator, said a final report from each recipient will outline what was completed and measure the success of each initiative. “We need to gauge the success before we figure out whether or not we do it again,” said Brenny.

Below are the amounts awarded and highlights of each group’s proposal.

Seward Neighborhood Group, $10,000

Working with Seward residents, organizations, schools and businesses, SNG’s “Seward Graffiti Hot Spots” program, will focus on prevention and cleanup while also providing an outlet for youth who are “at risk” of vandalizing property.

Students at Minnesota Transitions Charter School, 2872 26th Ave. S., will participate in the “Graffiti Hurts” curriculum and design lawns signs, posters, videos and more, which will be displayed around the neighborhood. Caption-Max, which relocated last fall to 2438 27th Ave. S., will provide close-caption versions of the videos for the hearing-impaired, as well as translations for Oromo- and Somali-speaking individuals.

Neighborhood seniors and youth will work together to identify graffiti “hot spots” and cover or remove existing graffiti. In some areas, graffiti-release coatings may be used to make it easier to remove graffiti. Kids from the Seward Youth Peace Garden will help install plants, such as trees and vines, near wall surfaces that might invite graffiti.

In-kind funding from Seward businesses, churches and organizations will bolster the $23,000 project, which runs from Apr. 1–Dec. 1 of this year, although SNG hopes the initiative extends beyond 2008. Longtime SNG staffperson Bernie Waibel will head up the project on a contract basis.

Brian Coyle Community Center, $10,000

Like the SNG project, The Coyle Center’s “Cedar-Riverside Graffiti Reduction Partnership Project” brings youth and adults together to fight graffiti before and after it appears.

The program includes graffiti-reduction education, including youth theater productions this spring and summer with project-partner Bedlam Theatre, as well as outreach to area businesses by the Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood Safety Committee, which will regularly check for and report “hot spots” and assist businesses with “eradication.”

A “youth mural” will be painted on a wall to deter vandals from otherwise painting on it. Neighborhoods and police have cited success in the past with such murals, as it is believed that graffitists do not generally cover existing art.

The grant will be matched by nearly $7,000 of in-kind contributions, as well. Four staff from the partnering organizations will oversee various aspects of the program, which participants will document and evaluate in order to measure its success.

Longfellow Community Council, $4,500

Citing the success of other graffiti mural projects, LCC hopes to partner with 25–30 youth to “convert frequently targeted buildings into canvases for community art,” according to LCC’s grant application. LCC plans to create a mural every month, beginning in late June. Each mural will take 40 hours to create, from the brainstorming and planning, sketching, the actual painting and a post-painting celebration.

LCC staff will administer the nearly $10,000 program, partnering with the organization Removing Existing Marks of Vandalism (REMOV), which will help recruit adults to volunteer and assist with the projects.

Lake Street Council, $10,000

The Lake Street Council will partner with the landscaping company Earth Wizards to install one or more “green façades” on graffiti-magnet properties along East Lake Street, most likely west of Hiawatha and The Bridge coverage area. Climbing plants will grow on a trellis system, “improving the aesthetics of large wall surfaces and making them less attractive to graffiti,” states the council’s application. The entire project budget is $17,5000.

To learn more about anti-graffiti efforts, visit the city’s graffiti website, www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/graffiti.

last revised: June 24, 2008

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