Grants

The Better Together Grant Program for Community Improvement ​

2023 Important Dates: 

Feb. 24: Applications Available
April 3: Application window opens
May 3: Applications due 
May 17: Grant winners notified 
Dec. 31: Grant projects must be completed

The Better Together Grant Program for Community Improvement

  • Individual grants of up to $2,000 are available with a total of $20,000 available. 
  • Any Resident Owned Community with a current or past technical assistance contract with a ROC USA® Network Certified TA Provider is eligible to apply. Recipients of last year’s grants are not eligible for this year’s funding. 
  • There are no grant categories, so anything from a building or repair project to rebranding and marketing to improving community engagement is eligible. 

Examples of Projects Eligible for Funding

Community
Projects

Projects should meet a compelling community need. Examples include security lighting, safety fencing, a bus shelter, playground, speed bumps, or repairs to a community center. The project should benefit your ROC in a visible way.

Rebranding
Projects

Rebranding projects can include legal name changes or new d/b/a (“doing business as” names), new signage, new letterhead and collateral material, a website redesign or new website (including ROC USA-provided websites). Basically, something that presents a new image to the Membership and general public that is a basic change in the outgoing message.

Member Engagement and Leadership Development Projects

Member Engagement and Leadership Development grants are available to ROCs who are looking to expand member engagement and develop new leaders in their community.  You may need funds to support Board communication strategies, such as technology for messaging, newsletters, virtual meetings; or, in order to engage members through committees or special project teams; or, other leadership development projects. 

APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

APPLICATION MATERIALS

PLEASE NOTE: If you are downloading the PDF application, it may open in a browser, which could refresh at any time. We advise clicking the download arrow in the top right corner, saving to your computer, and completing the application in Adobe Reader or Acrobat instead of completing it in the internet browser. 

Watch this video to learn how to download the PDF:

2022 Better Together Grant Recipients

Better Together Grant News

Frequently Asked Questions

The Better Together grants program opens once per year. This year, the application period opens April 3, with applications due May 3. 

Any ROC with a current or past Technical Assistance Contract with a ROC USA® Network Certified TA Provider is eligible to apply. Awardees of last year’s Better Together Grants are not eligible for this year’s awards.

Due to the number of applications received each year and limited funding, all grants received by the application deadline are given equal consideration for funding. 

The 2023 Better Together grant applications are due May 3.

In past years, there have two ways to apply: online and via mail.

To apply via email or mail, download the application in English or Spanish, complete it, and return via email (grants@rocusa.org) or mail to:

ROC Association
c/o Better Together Grants 
6 Loudon Rd Suite 501
Concord, NH 03301 

ROC Association Directors will be responsible for selecting grant recipients. See ROC Association to learn more about these ROC leaders. In no case will ROC Association Directors comment or vote on an application from their own ROC. Our goal is a fair process of project selection.

Didn’t find an answer to your question? Contact Us

GRANTS HISTORY

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In October 2010, the ROC leaders who attended the Community Leadership Institute in Louisville developed a community grants program idea that would both help fellow ROCs as well as engage new leadership in the co-op. The ROC USA® Board of Directors has included funding for the grants in the budget since 2010.

In 2019, the ROC Association added rebranding as a grant category. These grants provide funding for communities to make improvements to public-facing portions of their ROC, such as naming, signage, websites, letterhead and print collateral materials. Why is rebranding important? Basically, it helps shape how people view your community. This grant also allows for ROCs to replace outdated wording with terms that better represent their resident-owned community.

Today, grants are combined into one fund – the Better Together Grant Program for Community Improvement – anything from a building or repair project, to rebranding and marketing to improving community engagement.

Past Grant Recipients

Animas View MHP Cooperative (Durango, Colo.) – Animas View recently celebrated its one-year anniversary as a cooperative. The community will use funding to purchase new signs for the entrances of the community, reflecting the new community name. Funds will also go toward 15 interior direction signs to help emergency and delivery vehicles locate the appropriate home as quickly as possible.

Bunker Lane Condominium Association (Madbury, N.H.) – Bunker Lane will use funds to make repairs to the community center, which suffered damage due to a leak over the winter. They will install sheetrock and paint the interior to make the meeting house a more inviting place.

C & C Community, Inc. (Billings, Mont.) – C & C will use their Better Together grant to replace a large gate in the community that was recently damaged when a motorcycle ran into it. The gate prohibits traffic from driving through the neighborhood as a shortcut.

Conifer Green Cooperative, Inc. (Kingston, Mass.) – Conifer Green will use funding to purchase 75 homesite signs and one clubhouse address sign to help provide consistency and accuracy to emergency vehicles and delivery drivers. The 38-year-old existing home signs are inconsistent and in disrepair. Additionally, the clubhouse is not visible from the street and does not have signage, so any emergency vehicle called to the community center would have difficulty finding it.

Cranberry Village (Carver, Mass.) – Cranberry Village will use funds to illuminate some common areas of the community. With electricity already in place, the community will set poles and install LED security lights at the entrance and in the parking lot.

Crossroads Cooperative (Great Falls, Mont.) – Crossroads Cooperative will use funds to clean up two home sites that suffered considerable damage and created significant waste due to fire last year, with the ultimate goal of getting them ready for homes so the community can begin collecting lot rent on them again. Crossroads will also contribute up to $10,000 of their operating dollars to complete the cleanup.

Edgeway Homeowners Association (Middleborough, Mass.) – Edgeway HOA will use funds to establish a Lock Box for Seniors program in their community. This program will allow lock boxes to be installed at residents’ homes that are accessible by first responders, so they can enter the home without property damage in the event of an emergency. Edgeway’s goal is to offer the program at no cost to the homeowners.

Filbert Grove Cooperative (Springfield, Ore.) – Filbert Grove will use funds to purchase air conditioners to transform their community center into a cooling center during high-heat weather after experiencing 111-degree temperatures last summer. They will also purchase a few portable air conditioners to put in private homes for those who are unable to access the community center due to mobility limitations.

Forest Park Tenants Association (Jaffrey, N.H.) – Forest Park, who has been a cooperative for 12 years, will use funds to replace two signs that reflect the community’s old name (Forest Park Estates) with their correct name. Their goal is to instill pride in ownership of the community with the new signs.

Hidden Village (Olympia, Wash.) – Hidden Village will use grant funds to pay for a recent safety expense to prevent the general community from using their roads as a pass-through. The community installed a gate that is only accessible by community members and local officials.

LMP Cooperative (Longmont, Colo.) – LMP Cooperative is a predominantly Spanish-speaking community and will use the grant to pay to have its Community Rules and Bylaws translated into Spanish. This translation will support communication equity in the community, create space for more participation and ultimately more available leadership positions.

Missouri Meadows Community (Great Falls, Mont.) – Missouri Meadows will add funding to an additional $5,500 set aside from their capital improvement budget to begin the process of rehabbing an old pump house into a community center to be used for Board meetings and fun community events.

Rivermaze Cooperative (Cañon City, Colo.) – Working with Black Hills Energy, Rivermaze Cooperative will use funds to install hardwired security cameras throughout the community. The purpose of the cameras is to reduce crime within the community.

Sans Souci Cooperative (Boulder, Colo.) – Sans Souci will fund three community programs: a tool share program, a community garden, and a food pantry. The goal is to purchase an electric lawnmower, a weedwhacker, a reciprocating saw, and trimming shears that will be available for use for community members. The purchase of a refrigerator will jumpstart the food pantry.

The Woods Cooperative Association (Little River, California) – WCA will use funds to purchase microphones, a projector and portable screen and a Zoom Pro account to create a hybrid meeting experience that will enable all residents to participate in community meetings and feel comfortable doing so.

Woodlawn Terrace Cooperative (Richfield, Minn.) – Woodlawn Terrace will make electrical and cosmetic repairs to the original sign to their community which was installed in the 1960s. They will hire a contractor to repair and replace the electricity connections that light the sign and will spruce it up with fresh paint and the addition of the word “cooperative.”

Black Bear Village Cooperative in North Conway, N.H.,  installed permanent “children at play” signs in their community and invested in permit parking stickers for residents to help curb non-resident visitors in their recreation area. The community also installed solar lighting at the entrance and near their community center, playground, and basketball court. 

Champion Homes in Elbridge, N.Y., used funding to make improvements to the community’s playground including the installation of two new swings. 

Green Acres Cooperative in Kalispell, Mont., built a picnic area at their community center to help foster a more engaged community. A group of volunteers installed picnic tables, a barbecue grill, gazebo, and planted flowers to make it a welcoming space for the entire 32-home community. 

Heritage Association in Warren, Mass., installed 15 poles and solar streetlights in the 55-and-over section of their community to increase safety and security for residents. 

Libby Creek Community in Libby, Mont., recently received funding from the Headwaters Community Foundation to construct a new playground. The community used their Better Together Grant to install a chain-link fence around the perimeter of the playground to help keep the children safe. 

Lincoln Mobile Estates in Lincoln, R.I., addressed a safety issue in the community – emergency vehicles and delivery people had a hard time finding the correct home due to inefficient signage. The project committee updated street signs and home numbers throughout the community to ensure safety vehicles and packages reach their intended destination.

Loon Estates Cooperative in Northwood, N.H., converted an old garage into a community center for the residents of its 27 homes. The funding will be applied toward upgrades to the electrical system and the installation of walls, insulation, paint and flooring. 

Northwood Community in Ronan, Mont., installed a paved basketball court for children away from the main road this fall.

Old Lake Shore Cooperative in Gilford, N.H., used funds to begin the process of converting a building in their community into a community center. Currently, the community’s Board of Directors meets in a very small office and annual meetings have to be held off-site. The grant funding will go toward tackling the two biggest hurdles in the building conversion – installing electricity and water. Once these two items are complete, the project committee will look for resident volunteers to assist with additional interior projects.

Pleasant Park Community in Great Falls, Mont., applied funding toward the purchase and installation of a playground set for the children in the community. A playground had long been on the wish list for the Members of Pleasant Park, and completing this project will increase community engagement and continue positive momentum. 

 

Tanglewood Park Cooperative in Keene, N.H., is a 328-home community that became resident-owned in 2019. The community has two main entrances on heavily traveled roads in Keene. Both entrances featured 25-year-old signs that reflected the name of the ownership at that time they were built. The community will applied funding to two brand new barn-style handcrafted signs that proudly display the cooperative’s name. 

Top of the Hill Cooperative in Concord, N.H., installed lighting and cameras at the back of the community to help curb vandalism and unauthorized dumping by non-residents. The community also installed better signage. 

Better Together Grants: 

Colonial Estate Homeowners’ Cooperative – Community center ramp improvement project 

Triangle Court Cooperative – Pothole repair project 

Country Court Community – electrical repair project 

Barrington Oaks Cooperative – Mailbox/bus shelter project 

C&C Community – Fencing project 

Umpqua Ranch Cooperative – Fencing Project 

REBRANDING GRANTS: 

BT, Inc. – Signage & website 

Charter Oaks Village Cooperative – Signage 

Conifer Green Homeowners Association – Signage cleanup