Community is a big Hudson Valley theme that’s felt everywhere from CSAs to arts initiatives. Now, a new community-led fund is launching in Kingston to provide grants directly to the people of the Ulster County city. The fund, dubbed Kingston Common Futures, is for the Kingston community and decided by the Kingston community, making the innovative new program a collaborative affair and the first of its kind in the city.
At its core, Kingston Common Futures is on a mission to redistribute power, provide support, and democratically allocate financial resources throughout the community to contribute to a thriving Kingston. Created through a design process facilitated by Good Work Institute, a worker self-directed nonprofit organization, the fund evolved thanks to the efforts of 18 Kingston residents who worked together to create the mission, structure, and implementation plan for Kingston Common Futures.
The new program seeks to challenge historic imbalances of power and systemic oppression, hopefully resulting in a more inclusive and collaborative ecosystem in Kingston, inspired by the idea of the common good.
“We understand ‘the commons’ to be a self-organized social system that stewards resources, and a cultural system that honors the values and identity of the stewarding community. We want to put more of that into action here in Kingston,” says Amanda Cassiday, director of strategy and development at Kingston Common Futures.
In 2025, the community-led fund will allocate a total of $150,000 in grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 for projects within the Ulster County city through a highly transparent process of collaborative effort. Along with volunteers, Kingston Common Futures team members will read and score applications based on criteria that align with the fund’s mission and values. Individuals, groups, businesses, and organizations can apply for grants with projects that serve the Kingston community.
“As author Heather McGhee notes, the false notion that ‘if someone else is getting something, I must be losing something’ has done so much harm to our society. We are working to model a different way, where it is not a zero-sum game; where the process of applying to this fund connects you to a profound network of mutual support and connection,” says Clay Moodey, director of process and learning at Kingston Common Futures.
The first round of funding through Kingston Common Futures will be distributed in early fall of 2025, and the application portal is currently open with a deadline to submit a letter of intent by May 1. Those looking to get involved with the program can volunteer for mentor, application reviewer, and jury member roles.
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