Project Name: Postcards from the Past: Celebrating Pontiac’s Rich History in our Neighborhoods
ABOUT THE APPLICANT
Are you applying as a:
Informal group
What is the organization’s name?
Pontiac Eastside Community Meeting
What neighborhood does the organization serve?
Eastside, District Seven, Pontiac
First and last name?
Mike McGuinness
Twitter Handle
pontiacarts
Facebook Handle
facebook.com/pontiacpride
Instagram Handle
pontiacarts
ABOUT THE PROJECT
What is the name of the neighborhood where the project will take place? (Please include city/village name too. Example: Mexican Town, Detroit)
Eastside, District Seven, Pontiac
Anticipated project launch date
July 31, 2023
Describe your project idea including: a) Is it a project or event? b) What will you do? c) Where will you do it? d) Who, if any, are your project partners?
This project is installing historic images from Pontiac on chain link fences where permission has been given by the property owner. The sites will be chosen based upon their visibility to residents from the surrounding neighborhoods, catalyst effects on other community improvements, proximity to city parks that are slated for enhancements, and the neglected state of the screened lots. Partnering with us: Oakland County’s Historical Society, the source of our historic images being utilized.
How will you engage your community in this project?
The Pontiac Eastside Community Meeting, which consists of active residents from our city’s eastside neighborhoods, will be the community group that selects which diverse array of historic images will be selected and best represents the rich tapestry of our neighborhood’s past, present, and future. Community volunteers will assist us with gaining confirmation of permission for placement of the canvas banners, as well as assisting with the installation of the canvas banners.
How will the project celebrate the neighborhood’s diversity? Diversity can include different ages, races, cultures, socio-economic statuses, abilities, and more.
The community volunteers driving the project are diverse in race, age, ability, and socio-economic status. Further, the historic images selected will intentionally span many generations through our community and intentionally include an inclusive representation of our residents’ cultures and racial backgrounds. We do not seek to glorify some sanitized macro-level glimpse of the community; we will be curating and celebrating the full breadth of our community’s cross-sections, and the selected historic images will reflect that breadth. It isn’t simply a touting of a vehicle once assembled in our city — it is a celebrating of the black and brown women and men that toiled in those factories, a celebrating of the cultural groups and institutions that continue to sustain civic life in our city, a celebrating of the art and music that black and brown creators in Pontiac have and still do produce.
How do you plan to spend the $1,000 microgrant? Please list and explain the items, services, fees, expertise, etc. that you plan to purchase.
$960 – printing of 24 three-feet by five-feet canvas banners with historic images of Pontiac and affirming messages about our neighborhoods, at a local print vendor
$40 – zip ties for affixing the canvas banners to the chain link fences
no direct cost – in-kind labor for the installation of the canvas banners
Will your project require special permits?
No
Are you the owner of the property where the project/event will occur?
Rachel’s Notes
Reviewed 4.24.23. Confirmed member status. Hard to confirm organization as its informal. Applicant is a council person. Hard to tell if this is really only in one neighborhood.
https://www.pontiac.mi.us/council/councilman_mcguinness.php.
ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD’S NEEDS
Why does your neighborhood need this project?
Especially since the Great Recession and the bankruptcy of General Motors, our neighborhood has many areas that feel barren and neglected due to population loss, blight removal, and disinvestment. It’ll bolster the residents’ spirits, improve the aesthetics, and celebrate our city’s diversity.
What do you hope to achieve through this project? Be as specific as possible!
We hope to enhance the curb appeal of our neighborhood, prevent dumping, cut into the areas of barrenness, combat neglect of vacant land, celebrate our city’s diversity, promote awareness and education of our city’s rich past, boost pride and beautification efforts in our neighborhood, and empower residents to creatively tackle the challenges of our neighborhood while working collaboratively across age, race, and socio-economic lines.
What resources do you already have to make this project successful? Resources could include things like time, partners, expertise, donated goods/materials/space, matching funds, and more.
We already have the volunteers, we have the time, we have the source material, we have the vendor identified, and we have the expertise of trying this in other settings with success.
IMAGE UPLOADS
Image Caption 1 (if any): Historic Postcards Highlighting Pontiac History that’ll be Reproduced and Installed in our Neighborhoods
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Image Caption 2 (if any): Historic Images Reflecting Pontiac’s Rich Diversity that’ll be Reproduced and Installed in our Neighborhoods
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Image Caption 3 (if any):
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Image Caption 4 (if any):
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Image Caption 5 (if any):
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