Refresh Fund

The Refresh Fund

 This grant is intended primarily to help meet critical needs that support or sustain your community care work—such as essential supplies, equipment, safety gear, or other resources without which your cleanup efforts could not continue or be completed.

Examples of eligible critical needs may include: sensible equipment, minor repairs to equipment, or materials that directly support cleanup activities.

Throughout Allegheny County, there are hundreds of community-driven green space projects. Each of these projects requires annual investments in order to address maintenance concerns and achieve long-term sustainability. The most significant investment is that of labor and love from residents like you who receive little or no compensation for their efforts.

However the monetary costs for site upkeep often include: accessing the right tools for the job, technical support with project planning and policy navigation, and small costs for upkeep and materials. These material costs are represented by specific investments in things like a fresh coat of paint, pickets to fix a hole in a fence, or mulch to support healthy plants and suppress weeds. As time passes, these costs can add up, making it difficult to keep community spaces healthy, safe, and beautiful.

The goal of the Refresh fund is to support an environment for resident greenspace leaders and stewards to thrive year-after-year through the distribution of small in-kind grants for materials related specifically to site sustainment and slow-growth – and offer connections to other capacity-building resources that can ultimately lead to their self-sufficiency and long-term resilience.

In order to be considered, your project must be community-serving.

Materials awarded through the Refresh Fund should either: (1) help to sustain the initial quality of the site, (2) decrease the amount or intensity of maintenance required, (3) address a specific maintenance, accessibility, or safety concern, or (4) contribute directly to improving the health of soil or plants on site. 

If you are looking for funding for new amenities/additions to your site that have no relationship to the physical sustainability of your site please look into the resources listed at the end of this document. Understanding that an active site is more sustainable than a deserted one; considerations will be made for requests to supplement existing amenities in order to improve programming and community engagement there.

Average awards represent under $500 in material-costs. Materials are to be purchased for your project by you (the site manager) and will be reimbursed by Grounded Strategies.

Example of things we do fund:

• Mulch
• Wood Chips
• Materials for repairs
• Storage
• Paint
• Plants

Example of things we do not fund:

• Play equipment
• New structures
• Signage
• Hoop houses
• Agriculture equipment generally
• Pesticides
• Chemical fertilizers

Applications for 2025 are currently on hold.

Apply: Submit your completed application, either by completing and scanning/mailing the physical form to Grounded or by completing the online form. Grounded staff is available by phone or email to help you through this process.

Review/Approval: Grounded vets your application based on the alignment with the goal of the fund, and will provide feedback in the event that this condition is not met. Grounded will review all applications for impact and urgency and select a number of applications to award for the active period.

Procurement: Develop a draft budget for your project. Once the budget is approved by Grounded, you can procure your materials. Afterwards, submit your receipts along with Form W9 and we will reimburse your purchases within 30 days.

Additional Resources include:

• Love Your Block Grant
• Love My Neighbor Grant
• Grow Pittsburgh
• Adopt-a-lot
• Dumpster Donation Program (Budget Dumpster)