Applications now open for $500,000 in social service grants from city of Bloomington

In a Tuesday (March 4) news release, Bloomington’s city council has opened this year’s round of applications for area nonprofits to apply for a total of $500,000 in grants, through the city’s Jack Hopkins social services fund.

This year’s deadline for submitting an application is two and a half weeks from now—Friday, March 21 by 4 p.m.  

For applicants who are unfamiliar with the process, a technical assistance meeting will be held Friday, March 14 at 4 p.m. in the Allison Conference Room at city hall. Access to the technical assistance meeting will also be available by Zoom. 

To be eligible for funding, projects have to address an identified community need, leverage matching funds or other fiscal support, and provide long-term benefit to the community. 

Last year’s $359,996 of funding was allocated to 30 different projects for an average award of around $12,000. The awards ranged from $1,000 to $31,618. 

This year’s total amount is about $150,000 more than has been available in most recent years. The exceptions were 2020 and 2021, when additional Jack Hopkins funding was allocated, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It's the Bloomington city council that makes the final decision on awards, but recommendations are made by a seven-member committee that is made up of councilmembers and other residents. Residents serving on the Jack Hopkins social services committee this year are Nordia McNish, Camryn Greer and Eddy Riou. Councilmembers serving on the committee are Isak Asare (chair), Dave Rollo, Andy Ruff, and Courtney Daily.

All the available details about the grants are available on the Jack Hopkins social services committee webpage.   

Last year, the total amount of Jack Hopkins awards nudged over $6 million.

The basic criteria for Jack Hopkins social services funding were first written down in a 1993 letter by councilmember Jack Hopkins, after whom the fund was named. Hopkins was a professor at Indiana University’s public and environmental affairs. The resolution that named the fund after Hopkins was approved by the city council in 2002, the month after Hopkins died.