Neighborhood Match Fund

City of Grand Rapids

Client
City of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Year
2021

The Neighborhood Match Fund is a community grant program that empowers Grand Rapids residents to create projects that bring neighbors together, build relationships, and strengthen local connections. The program awards contracts ranging from $500 to $5,000 to resident-led initiatives that promote social justice, inclusion, and a deeper sense of belonging. This was a new initiative that needed a visual identity and a complete communications toolkit to launch successfully and inspire community participation.

My Role: I developed the brand identity and designed all of the foundational materials that would introduce the program to the public and provide residents with the tools they needed to participate.

Uplifting Communities

The logo emerged from conversations with program leaders about what this initiative meant for the community—it's about neighbors coming together to lift each other up. The design needed to feel cohesive with the existing Grand Rapids Neighborhood Summit branding, NMF’s sister initiative, but still distinct.

Logo of the City of Grand Rapids Neighborhood Match Fund featuring four colorful figures holding hands above the text 'G R N S' and 'Grand Rapids Neighborhood Summit'.

Program Rollout

Once the project branding was established, we moved on to creating all of the necessary assets to roll out this new initiative.
This material included: custom letterhead and envelope, Applicant Guides in both English and Spanish, social media templates for both application phases, a project intro video, and a presentation design. The processes for applying for funding, utilizing and tracking spending, and submitting a closing report were very specific, and could be overwhelming. Our goal was to use graphics,
a step-by-step format, and simple language to break down the process so that it was accessible to all community members.

NMF+Mockup.png
Applicant Guide.png
Social Media.png
Presentation Mockup.png

Funding the Community’s Vision

The project launched successfully in 2021, and has since completed 8 successful rounds of funding. I couldn’t be prouder to have worked on this project that helps give the amazing members of the Grand Rapids community access to the funding and tools they need to execute their visions and uplift their community.