The location of a project site is as important as how to apply for specific grants. Often understanding your community’s micro demographics will identify locations to focus grant efforts and further develop your application’s foundation.

Public input is common in most grant applications. Hailed by the state grant review coordinators as “Having the best public outreach process,” RJM has coordinated with city agencies to collect massive support and creative public input in design of new park facilities.

Hosting design workshops, pop-up park workshops, and online amenity surveys are a great way to build your community support. We work with your existing community programs and focus outreach events at farmers markets, festivals, and special events.

A cornerstone to the design process is synthesizing all the data to combine everyone’s efforts into one consensus plan. The final plan then becomes the community’s voice in the grant application, illustrating to the reviewing agency the need for such resources within the community.

Having realistic cost estimating for a project will help in achieving the public’s vision for your park’s development. Los Amigos Park in Rancho Cucamonga was designed with the community and detailed to a level where realistic costs could be developed with specific quantities and unit pricing to narrow down just how much funding was going to be required in order to complete the project.

RJM developed a comprehensive set of plans and specifications to ensure the community’s vision of the Los Amigos Park came to fruition. Working with contractors, city staff, and the design team RJM coordinated the project’s construction in accordance with the grant requirements. The final deliverable was a park designed by the community and funded by California State Parks bond grants.