FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker, neighborhood leaders, and representatives from Community Development gathered on Monday to announce grants for the 2026 Neighborhood Improvement Program.
28 neighborhoods have been awarded improvement grants to enhance safety, beautify, and improve the overall quality of life.
The City released the following:
Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker announced that 28 Fort Wayne neighborhoods are receiving improvement grants to help make them safer, more attractive and more enjoyable for residents. Mayor Tucker joined representatives from the Woodhurst Neighborhood today for the announcement and highlighted their award, which will help fund the construction of a concrete connection from the neighborhood to the Rivergreenway. The connection will be made at the back of property owned by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5310 Old Mill Rd.
“I’m appreciative and supportive of the Neighborhood Improvement Grant program. We’re bringing residents together to enhance quality of life offerings and make a positive difference,” said Mayor Tucker. “With strong, engaged, and growing neighborhoods, we’re better equipped to get to where we want to go as a thriving city that’s moving in the right direction.”
Community Development’s Neighborhoods Department awarded more than $119,000 in grants
up to $5,000 to complete projects in one of four areas: placemaking, transit improvements, landscaping, and neighborhood identification or branding. Arts United provided matching funds for three grants to support the installation of public art. Those projects include painted crosswalks in the North Highlands Neighborhood, a large mural in the Packard Area Planning Alliance and a large mural in West Central Neighborhood.
Examples of funded projects include installing new playground equipment, benches, historic markers, painted crosswalks, street trees, branded signage, water fountains and landscaping. A complete list of all the 2026 neighborhood improvement grants is attached.
“This is the ninth year of the Neighborhood Improvement Grant program, one of our most popular grant programs at the City,” said Director of Neighborhoods Dan Baisden. “We’re excited to add to it this year by partnering with Arts United to include a few additional awards focused on bringing public art to our neighborhoods. It’s partnerships like this that help us extend our grant resources further and make a bigger impact for our neighborhoods.”
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