Does anyone have any experience with grant writing or petition campaigning for sidewalks or other neighborhood improvement projects?

First, I would approach the road authorities with a request for the sidewalk to be extended as a safety issue.

You might get your neighbors to all sign a petition.

Do you live in a city or a town? Do you know who your elected officials are? This is their job. Contact the appropriate official and ask for a meeting, or ask them to come see the situation themselves. Then ask them to have your town install the sidewalk. This is the kind of thing politicians love to do.

If the politician does come, invite the press, too. Warn the politician of course.

Grant writing to install the sidewalk should not be your responsibility. The town should be able to write their own grants if they can’t afford the sidewalk through taxes.

Depending on how big or how small your community is, the first place you want to call & email is your Department of Public Works and alert them to the issue.

Next call your Village or Town Manager, or Mayor’s office.

A petition is your last option, after all phone calls, emails and a letter writing campaign have failed.

I’m not sure why a petition would be done last. All the local organizing I’ve been a part of started with a petition. Those signatures are your first sign of support and you’re able to meet other people who might be interested in being active in the cause—that can be anything as simple helping write letters or make phone calls or even attend events with you or for you. It shows that it’s not just you that’s concerned—it’s the whole community.

Anyway, yeah. Get signatures, then attend city council meetings. You can talk to your officials that way. Alternatively, you can call up the council member that represents your ward.

You don’t need signatures for the DPW to do their job. You just need to call and see if they’re even aware of the problem. Often, if these things aren’t reported, they don’t know the issue exists.

As to writing for grants, I suggest “Grant Writing for Idiots,” or I believe that’s what it’s called. I read it a few years ago while looking for independent ways of supporting myself. It was very good and led me to classes at my local college. A good grant writer is a very valuable asset to any organization, to for-profits looking for research partnerships, but especially non-profits. After some time as a grant writer for an org, making valuable contacts and obtaining knowledge, one can go free lance. If you’re good, you can make a living on your own terms finding money for groups you believe in. And a political activist, or a leader of a group of political activists with a knowledge of obtaining grants and contacts in the field, is invaluable.

I’ll go into this in more detail later tonight when my daughter is in bed.