Congratulations to our 2018 Southeastern Leadership Roundtable Civic Ignition Grant Winners!  We received 9 submissions and had over 40 participants join us to judge the cycle at our meet up and workshop.  It was a great conversation and the workshop took about 90 minutes to complete.  Congratulations to the winners:

Feeling Fruity and Bringing Beauty:
“Upon approval from Knoxville Parks and Rec, Urban Forestry and Knoxville Public Arts Committee, we will be planting two fruit trees in a public space in the city of Knoxville to provide an outlet for food and nutrition to be available to everyone. We chose the ‘Moonglow’ Pear tree because of its hardiness and ability to grow in East Tennessee conditions, does not need a lot of care and is highly resistant to disease. In addition, we will arrange a professional mural to be in proximity of the tree planting. A group of local artists who are experienced in large public art have agreed to work with our idea. Together we wish to create a thought provoking, positive message to the Knoxville community and those who travel through, to encourage the importance of healthy living, environmental consciousness and appreciation for artistic expression. We hope to inspire others to plant more trees, grow food and share abundance. As long-time Burners and creators of a Regional Burn here in East Tennessee, To The Moon, our aim is to generate a lifestyle outside of the Burns that incorporates the 11 principles and creates a positive, communal environment in our home town. This is our effort to act on our personal civic responsibility in a simple, yet powerful project. We are currently in close contact with Aaron Browning (Knoxville Parks and Recreation) who we have a good relationship with through our summer Clean-Up parties at places like Dickerson Quarry and Sharp’s Ridge. We already have a reputation for assisting in the beautification and communal engagement of the city of Knoxville. Approval for planting ‘Moonglow’ Pears is in the process with the Urban Forestry Department where they will suggest viable planting sites and conditions. The Knoxville Public Arts Committee will also be working with us on placement and approval of the mural.”

Ministry of Butterfly Community Garden:
“The mission of this project is to help our pollinators thrive again. We will educate the community about how to plant their own butterfly gardens via instructions printed on seeds packets we give out at community events and at local businesses that are willing to support this project by putting these seed packets at their registers. This is a free gift to them, a gift that keeps on giving. The seed packets also offer the hashtag to use to share their process and progress on social media as well as the date to join in and meet up to help plant the community butterfly garden. #butterflieswithoutborders only has 3 posts using this on Instagram so it’s a great option ready for us to take over. I will coordinate with local land owning organizations to find the perfect spot with full sun and that is willing to water the garden after it is planted. I have already started reaching out to these organizations about the potential of collaborating on this. I would then order the necessary organic supplies from my local nursery, see spreadsheet below. As far as the design, Rob has planted many gardens like this for private clients in the past and Shelagh and myself are both working artists and gardeners. In our area we plant after Mother’s Day. So any weekend following that would be ideal. Perhaps it’s even the day before Mothers Day, a Saturday, and we encourage people to bring their moms to the community garden planting event. ”

Operation Sleepy Kitty:
“We will be making elevated pet beds for cats and dogs in the shelters of Eastern Kentucky. Eastern Kentucky is a poorly funded area in general and the shelters struggle to provide needed equipment to keep pets comfortable.  Operation Sleepy Kitty is helpful to the local community by providing much needed sleeping space for a variety of animals living in shelters of Estill, Powell, Clark, and Madison counties in Eastern Kentucky. Happy animals are more likely to be adopted and it is important for the animal to have a safe and comfortable place to call their own. This is relevant to the Burning Man Global Network by encouraging civic responsibility among the Reclaimation participants. We will be taking these out into the community and showing our Burning Man spirit!

What is the Southeastern Leadership Roundtable Civic Ignition Grant?                                                                                                                      
A program aimed at funding innovative community & civic projects within the Southeastern Leadership Roundtables respective geographic areas.  We are interested in programs that create collaborations, produce direct actions, utilize several of the 10 Burning Man Principles, are reproducible, and creatively tackle local social problems. This grant gives anyone the opportunity to submit a collaborative, creative, and principle-focused project with a chance to win up to a $,1,500 grant.

Timeline:
–  Grant Opportunity is announced on February 15th. 
–  Deadline for grant submissions is March 17th (Midnight CST)
–  Workshop Partiucipants will review the grant proposals at the 2018 Southeastern Leadership Roundtable (Weekend of March 24th)
–  Winner(s) will be announced Monday evening after the SERT  (March 26th)

Apply here:  http://bit.ly/2H9Ned5

What’s special about the Southeastern Leadership Roundtable Civic Ignition Grant?
Submissions to the 2018 Southeastern Leadership Roundtable Civic Ignition grant cycle will be workshopped and judged by a group of participants and community leaders that attend this year’s Southeastern Leadership Roundtable. This group will be using the submissions as material to review and workshop while learning how to administer their own civic grant programs.

Who is eligible to apply?
Anyone!  Individuals, Groups, and Not-for-Profits are all eligible.  You do not need to be a participant of the leadership gatherings themselves to apply.  
We encourage projects be endorsed by a local Burning Man Regional Contact.  The RC does not need to be a project lead, or heavily involved with the process, rather they are simply endorsing the project and the leaders who are submitting.  We recognize not all regions have local RC’s, if this applies to you consider contacting a neighboring RC.

How much can you ask for?
The maximum grant that maybe awarded is between $1,000 – $1,500 (final numbers confirmed soon).  We encourage your project’s viability to not be solely dependent on this grant.  Think about other sources of funding that might be available.  Grants awarded could be less than the full amount.

What types of proposals will likely not get funded by this program?
Programs that are solely based on artistic endeavors and do not have a community or civic aspect will most likely not be considered for funding.  Funds should not be used for direct fundraising, chapter promotion efforts, or for paying people for their work.

What follow-up will be expected by grant recipients?
All recipients will be expected to submit written reports on what they have accomplished and learned in the course of their projects, along with accompanying visual media.  This media will be hosted on the Burners Without Borders website.

Who won the Civic Ignition Grant in 2017?                                                                                      
This will be our first time producing the Southeastern Leadership Roundtable Civic Ignition grant.  
But you can check out past winners of the Civic Ignition or Walk the Talk grants:
https://bmanbwb.wpengine.com/projects/walk-the-talk-civic-grant-2017
https://bmanbwb.wpengine.com/projects/walk-the-talk-2015

> How to create a Project.