Congratulations to the Round 3 Grant Award Winners:

1. ​Yuma Street Cultural Center Launch | Project Impact Area: Community Development | Project Type: Marketing - This project is to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy and associated promotion to announce the Yuma Street Cultural Center launch. This project aims to help preserve African American heritage; narrow the racial wealth gap and stimulate the local economy through the development of resources, training, and access to capital and a new market for entrepreneurs of color; and engage the community through tourism and cultural and historical education. The Lead Applicant on the project is Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills. 

2. MixMaster2024 Music Conference | Project Impact Area: Entrepreneurship Support | Project Type: Community Outreach - This project supports the MixMaster Music Conference, a platform uniting local artists and music industry professionals to create entrepreneurship opportunities in the arts. A primary goal of the project is to connect music industry professionals with development and training in areas such as business, copyright issues, financial management, and other resources necessary to build a thriving career in the creative economy. The Lead Applicant on the project is Creative Impact Alliance DBA Lawrence Music Alliance. 

3. Pitch Your Porch | Project Impact Area: Entrepreneurship Support | Project Type: Community Service - This initiative helps property and business owners rehabilitate commercial facades and signage through a competitive process. The goal is to use the project funds to support further façade improvements in the downtown district to support existing beautification efforts such as murals and a new park to increase consumer traffic and retail sales. The Lead Applicant on the project is Graham County. 

4. Paint the Town | Project Impact Area: Community Development | Project Type: Community Service - This collaborative effort will coordinate between homeowners and volunteers to paint 40 front doors, with the goal of not only enhancing the appearance of homes in the community but also building relationships and community pride and purpose. The Lead Applicant on the project is Harvey County. 

5. Affordable Housing Development | Project Impact Area: Community Development | Project Type: Community Service - This project is to support efforts to increase the amount of affordable housing in Wichita and address barriers to housing access. The goal is to use these funds to support the building of a new affordable housing unit in Wichita. The Lead Applicant on the project is HOPE-CDC. 

6. Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) | Project Impact Area: Entrepreneurship Support | Project Type: Community Outreach - This project supports the organization of a Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) conference in a Kansas community with a population of 9,999 or fewer. Grant funds will be used to train the steering committee on how to host this kind of unique, “embedded” conference and assess host community locations. The Lead Applicant on the project is Kansas State University. 

7. Suicide Prevention and Awareness Community Mural | Project Impact Area: Civic Engagement | Project Type: Community Service - This project will coordinate art teachers and Hope Squad sponsors at eight schools and colleges across Cowley County to host suicide prevention and awareness community mural painting events. The goal is to build community resilience by building relationships between adult mentors and students and addressing barriers to greater community mental and physical health. The Lead Applicant on the project is Legacy Regional Community Foundation. 

8. Rural Access to Community Health Innovation | Project Impact Area: Health/Health Equity | Project Type: Community Outreach - This project is a “Community Health and Vibrancy Pilot Competition” that has provided Kansas communities with breakthrough technology tools to address population health inequities for the past four years. The grant funding will be used to offset costs for rural partners in the pilot to participate in the 2024 NXTSTAGE Competition week and Innovation Showcase in Wichita, extending the benefits of this global program to facilitate access to leading healthcare solutions to rural health advocates across Kansas. The Lead Applicant on the project is NXTUS. 

9. World Peace Wichita | Project Impact Area: Health/Health Equity | Project Type: Marketing - This is a collective community project to create a book that will inspire greater self and community awareness to encourage Wichitans to live a more active, engaged, and present life. The Lead Applicant on the project is the Riordan Clinic. The grant award amount is $10,000.

10. Voter Engagement | Project Impact Area: Civic Engagement | Project Type: Community Outreach - This project is to support efforts to register 10,000 new voters, educate the community about the importance of voting, and increase voter turnout in target areas with the goal of increasing voting in underrepresented groups. The Lead Applicant on the project is Sunflower Community Action. 

11. Building a Family-Friendly Future: A Local Civic Action Guide | Project Impact Area: Civic Engagement| Project Type: Marketing - This project aims to increase the number of Kansans engaged in forward thinking by creating a resource that educates residents about how to brainstorm and develop their own civic engagement plans for the future, utilizing a print and digital booklet in English and Spanish and multiple podcast-style interview with leaders in local civic action from each region of the state. The Lead Applicant on the project is Thrive Kansas.