Grants program has funded multiple local projects in last year

Jun. 23—A city-sponsored small grants program has funded nine local projects in Oneonta since it began one year ago.

Three were rejected for not meeting the program requirements. Four current proposals are in the process of being reviewed.

Last May, the Common Council approved funding for the Oneonta Community Initiative — a way for the city to fund public projects initiated by community members.

The OCI grants — between $200 and $1,000 — provide money for events, projects and public services that better the quality of life in Oneonta.

Mayor Mark Drnek said that city Community Development Director Judy Pangman and Director of Finance Virginia Lee found $53,000 in unspent money from grants for public engagement to use for the OCI grants.

The leftover funds would have been returned to the city's general fund otherwise, Drnek said.

Destination Oneonta, a nonprofit business collaboration and support network, administers the grants on behalf of the city.

A mayor-appointed award selection committee evaluates the proposals. The Common Council approved the current committee — Libby Cudmore, Susan Szczepanski, Jane Henry, Dave Hutchison and Godwin Njoku — at its June 6 meeting.

Proposals are evaluated for how much they benefit the public and how consistent they are with the city's 2019 comprehensive plan.

There are three broad categories of projects drawn from that plan: arts, culture and recreation, community development and public service.

Victoria Smith, Destination Oneonta director of membership and events, said that proposals need to be made 60 days in advance if it's an event and it takes two weeks to review the proposal.

Approved projects have included:

* $500 to Stephen Sisselman for The Happiness Project, a public sign display of positive messages. The funds went towards the cost of the event, the production of signs and shipping the signs to the next place.

* $425 to Maria G. for a Girl Scout Gold Award project creating a permanent interactive display on butterfly life cycles and the effect of climate change on butterfly populations at the Oneonta World of Learning Museum and educating people in the greater Oneonta community about climate change and the effects on butterfly populations. The funds went towards the cost of producing pamphlets and seeds for butterfly gardens to distribute, as well as purchasing costumes, art supplies and educational posters.

* $999.75 to Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties for making blankets for the warming station to help homeless individuals stay warm in the winter months. FOR-DO purchased the materials and volunteers assembled the fleece blankets, which were donated to the warming station on Chestnut Street.

* $850 to Roots Brewing Co. to buy and install patio-style string lighting in the alleyway behind 175-177 Main St., which is privately owned but used by the public as a pedestrian walkway.

* $850 to the Greater Oneonta Historical Society to buy and install patio-style string lighting in the alleyway behind 181-183 Main St.

* $355 to the city's Deer Management Task Force/Committee for a survey of city residents on their opinions on the deer population, and its supplies, advertising and rental fees.

* $1,000 to Susan Lettis for purchasing and planting of spring annuals to fill the circular planters on Main Street, in coordination with the Oneonta Federated Garden Club which plants summer annuals and city employees who water the plants.

* $1,000 to Susan Lettis for purchasing and planting perennials to fill the in-ground planters on Main Street to be planted by volunteers this summer, with the garden club and city employees.

* $1,000 to Girls on the Run Central NY for an annual 5K run for girls in grades 3-8 from six counties.

* $975 to Oneonta Little League for extending the existing backstop at the Don Knapp/Rich Murphy fields after expending the organization's funds on creating a girls softball program.

* $510 to Stephanie Carr, Hartwick College microbiology professor, for materials for educational activities at Huntington Library as part of children's summer reading program related to an oceanographic research expedition Carr and two biology students are participating in.

Drnek said the OCI program is underutilized. The accumulative total awards capped at $5,000 per quarter. The city supplies the funds on quarterly basis.

"The idea is that if you can devise a project that would be of value to the community, your neighborhood or the community as a whole, we would fund it in some fashion," he said.

OCI program guidelines and the application can be found online at www.destinationoneonta.com/oci-program.