A new program is aiming to help revitalize neighborhoods on the city's northeast side.
Today on Tuesday, the Rochester Regional Community Design Center's announced its first round of $5 thousand grants to two neighborhood projects.
The projects include the expansion of the Dazzle School of Visual and Performing Arts on Webster Avenue, and the re-purposing of a former synagogue on Joseph Avenue into a history and religion museum.
Joni Monroe, of the design center, says these are small grants are made to focus on the "predevelopment" portion of the projects.
"They will build capacity within the organizations that want to do these improvement projects, and help enable them to hire design professionals who can help with the planning and design of the projects to make them better projects that will ... accomplish the missions they are trying to achieve.”
Monroe says the organization is planning to hold its first competitive grant cycle this fall. She says they hope to expand the funding to other quadrants of the city then too.
The grants are funded by the Max and Marian Farash Charitable and Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk foundations.
The Rochester Regional Community Design Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy and sustainable communities.