City Holds Pride of Place Grant Workshop in Preparation of March 3rd Deadline

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GOLETA, CA, February 19, 2025 – There are less than two weeks left to apply for the City of Goleta’s new grant program for Old Town Businesses. With the Pride of Place (POP) grant, business owners are encouraged to submit ideas on how to enhance sense of place and attract more customers to Old Town Goleta. A total of $120,000 in funding is available for this grant program, with the average award anticipated to be between $3,000 and $10,000.

Yesterday, February 18, the City held a workshop on the application process where approximately 20 Old Town business owners and non-profit leaders attended. The workshop included a walkthrough of the application process, a Q&A section, and City staff from the Finance department to answer questions regarding business license applications and status updates. View the presentation here and a list of FAQs here.

Interested Old Town business owners must apply by Monday, March 3. Applicants can apply online here, or with a printed application. Paper applications are available at City Hall (130 Cremona Drive, Goleta, CA 93117) or you can print the application here. Please return your printed application to City Hall or email it to Shannon Kirn at skirn@cityofgoleta.org by the March 3rd deadline.

Each proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Alignment with program goals
• Positive community impact
• Creativity and innovation
• Feasibility
• Community engagement
• Business collaboration

If accepted, the business owners would receive funding to implement the idea(s) submitted in the application. Examples of how the funding could be used potentially include: advertising, marketing, beautification, plants, events, specials, promotions, signage, seating, customer parking, permits, insurance, and more.

To learn more about this program, go to www.CityofGoleta.org/POPgrant. Please contact Shannon Kirn at skirn@cityofgoleta.org or (805) 562-5512 if you have any questions.