Introducing the Community Fund (2022)

UPDATE 11.2.2022 - The votes are in, and the projected selected is.....(check out the news feed tool at the bottom of the page for the winner)! For projects for 2023, check out the "Community Ideas 2023" tab in the tools!

The City of Auburn has created a small "Community Fund" with the goal of supporting small, community identified projects in Auburn. The purpose of these projects is to support Auburn in being a healthy, inclusive, and engaged community where residents have a love of place, a sense of belonging, and an ability to influence the future of the community.

Historically, the City has had something called the Community Matching Grant (more information is available on our City website: auburnwa.gov/matchinggrants). Over the years, this program has helped neighborhoods with HOA's fund small projects such as neighborhood park refurbishment, installation of Little Free Libraries, neighborhood entrance signs, and more. This program provides a great service to our neighborhoods and will continue, however, we wanted to make a similar program available to those communities that do not have established HOAs. This is why the Community Fund was created - to help those areas do similar projects. With this new program, residents can identify the project and participate in it's completion and the City will act as the project manager with the goal of completing the project within the calendar year.

This will be the first year of this new Community Fund program. We are prioritizing communities of color in the Valley area of Auburn, as historically funding has not reached these communities. Therefore projects for this fund MUST promote inclusive engagement and enhance community wellness. We define wellness as community members having the chance to create relationships with each other, feeling like they are a part of a community that has a safe and inviting atmosphere for everyone, and being able to have physical, social, and mental well-being.

Please submit project ideas using the mapping tool below. During the application phase (January - March), we will be collecting projects ideas from community members. The City will look at these ideas and choose ones that fit the scope of the program (April), and present it back to the community to be voted on throughout the month of May (see timeline to the right). As we move forward, this webpage will be continuously updated with the status of this program and with any other feedback requests we have of residents. More information (including guiding questions for your project) can be found in the "FAQs" and "Important Links" section to the right.