From the desk of The Harvest Foundation President Kate Keller
“Project Hope is about neighbors working with neighbors.”
This simple sentence is the essence of our initiative, Project Hope. Almost five years ago, we launched Project Hope to celebrate our 20th anniversary and have continued the celebration since.
Project Hope is community-inspired and community-led. A rotating Project Hope Committee, made up of volunteers, updates and releases the Request for Proposals each spring and awards the grants in the fall. They are seeking community groups that want to come together to do something to make our community better.
Past efforts included projects like free library boxes, an Uptown mural, community gardens, reading circles, and the pollinator garden. Each of these is designed to engage neighbors working with neighbors.
Each one of these projects strengthens what the social sector calls the “social fabric” of the community, which just means that they strengthen community bonds, which in turn helps a community be resilient and empowered. When neighbors come together, the individuals involved also experience less isolation and improved mental health.
When I arrived in 2020, I heard comments about MHC like “we are not an activist community.” While that may ring true in some aspects, what Project Hope has shown is that many in this community are ready and willing to come together to move their local neighborhood forward, to make it prettier, nicer, more welcoming, and engaging. That is definitely a type of activism.
We are ready to see more ideas! The 2026 Project Hope RFP will be released on May 1. I know the Committee is excited to hear about your ideas to help neighbors work with neighbors to make your community just a little bit better.