HAYWARD – If you have an idea for how Hayward should spend some of its money to improve the community, now’s your chance to make it known.
The city will be handing out small grants, $50,000 to $70,000, to different areas of Hayward, for a total of $350,000. Officials have divided the city into six areas, and residents can suggest ways to enhance their neighborhoods. Later, people living in each area will be able to vote for which project they like the best.
The deadline is March 31 to submit proposals for funding through what is being called the new People’s Budget.
After the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests in 2020, Hayward, like many cities, started talking about looking at new ways to ensure public safety. City staff members met with some residents, and the idea for the small grants came out of that meeting.
The city also surveyed 1,700 residents about their perceptions of public safety in Hayward.
“One of the trends really was that community members of all ages and backgrounds in the city felt safer when they felt a strong connection to their neighborhood … and felt like they could talk to their neighbors and ask for help if they needed it,” said Mary Thomas, a management analyst for Hayward.
There are no specific requirements for what a proposal should be about as long as it relates to “community.” To submit a proposal, residents can contact their delegates through the project website or email community@hayward-ca.gov. Residents without computer access can call Thomas at 510-583-4227.
Some of the ideas submitted so far include a youth basketball clinic and a dog park.
A list of the proposals will be released April 11. Residents age 10 years and older will be able to vote May 1-11 at parks and schools throughout the city. There will also be an option to vote online. Some projects could be implemented as early as this summer, Thomas said.
The idea to allow young people to vote came from the survey results. Some residents indicated they wanted voting to be accessible to more people than just registered voters and the idea that “young people are critical to helping build community in their neighborhoods,” Thomas said.
The amount of the grants for each area of the city will depend on its size and average annual income.
To find out which area they live in, people can type in their addresses on a website the city has set up at https://hayward-ca.gov/peoplesbudget. Instead of voting for just one idea, residents will rank the project proposals for their neighborhood. Thomas expects that three to four proposals will receive funding in each sector.
One of the people hoping to be aided by the budget is Carlos Gonzalez. He’s the president of the Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association and has lived in the area for 22 years. He wants to get funding to continue building the community garden at Main and Hazel streets.
“It helps foster community relationships and partnerships, it’s one way of getting the community together and it’s one way of getting the community to invest in themselves,” he said.
The garden is currently a place for people in the Prospect Hill neighborhood to grow their own food. Grant funding would allow the community to further develop the property and turn the orchard area into a location for locals to retreat to and spend time in.
“It enhances our quality of life for the neighborhood,” Gonzalez said. “I think the city has hit a home run with [the People’s Budget].”
Source: www.mercurynews.com