The River Market is on the hunt for homegrown projects that it can help fund through ONE Prize, a community grant program it's presenting, along with Donald's Market.
Last year, ONE Prize funded two innovative community ventures: The Night is Young, a multi-discipline showcase of young artists; and Pop Luck, a series of pop-up dinners in public spaces across the city that brought together local residents to share homemade food.
"(ONE Prize) brings together what we've been talking about at the market, which is commerce and community," said River Market's ONE project lead Leslie Shieh.
There were more than 30 entries for last year's ONE Prize, Shieh said.
"It was really hard to shortlist, and I'm sure the members had a hard time voting," she said. "We want to see ideas that people want to try, but they don't really have the seed money. It could be anything, could be something really small, like a neighbourhood, or street or block beautification, but it could be also bigger."
Donald's Market and River Market launched ONE Prize as a community fund for New Westminster. When ONE members shop at Donald's Market, the grocery store contributes one per cent of every dollar spent to the ONE Prize fund. Members vote for their favourites from a shortlist of submitted proposals.
Shieh said they hope more people sign up for ONE so the fund gets bigger and more people vote and contribute.
For 2013, Donald's
Market is contributing $6,000 to ONE Prize. Three projects will be funded by three $1,000 prizes.
In addition, one $3,000 prize will be awarded to a project that supports education and children's programming in New Westminster, according to a media release.
Project innovators can include non-profit organizations, for-profit enterprises, community groups or individuals.
The aim of ONE Prize is to kick-start new projects or strengthen existing ones, rather than to fund a group's ongoing operating costs, the release noted.
"We started ONE as an investment in our community," Shieh said. "We believe in a local economy that is not simply based on transactions between buyers and sellers, but on collectively investing in our own backyard.
"Through ONE Prize, dollars spent by residents in local, independent shops are pooled to kick-start locally-based project ideas."
Project proposals should be submitted online. The deadline for submission is March 31. Visit www.river market.ca/oneprize for the submission form.
After receiving submissions, River Market and Donald's Market will shortlist the projects and ask ONE members to vote. Prizes will be announced in early May.
For ONE membership - which also comes with savings and perks at Donald's Market and throughout River Market - sign up in person at Donald's Market.
