The Commonwell is energizing learning throughout Commonwell Country!
L.E.A.F. is back in 2023 awarding $350,000 in grants for community projects that support learning and capacity improvements for our communities to thrive in the long-term. Applications are now closed. Find one in your community below.
HOW THE COMMONWELL L.E.A.F INITIATIVE WORKS
Submit a Project
Project submissions are now closed. But you can still play a part in re-energizing learning and engagement in your community by adding your support to a project that has already been submitted. When you do, that project submission is strengthened.
Support a Project
Supporting projects is now closed.
FIND A PROJECT IN YOUR COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT TODAY!
SEARCH RESULTS
THINK BIG!
What facilities, community centres or education spaces could use programming or space improvements to accelerate learning and engagement in your community? Where do you need more room, more capacity, better environments? And how will you put the grant to work to grow the community resiliency that comes from learning, working and connecting together? Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Could learning infrastructure be improved in your community? Is internet accessibility limited? Funding could support projects that help bridge those gaps, by providing things like hotspot and digital device access
Does your community need a new computer lab or an upgrade to an existing one? Funding could support better access, more learning opportunities or deeper connectivity.
Is there an under-utilized space in your community that can be repurposed into a teaching space? Are there opportunities to improve existing learning spaces? Funding could support accessible learning in better environments.
Opportunities for skills development gives community members a jump start or a second chance. Start a coding class at local library, build a financial literacy program for kids, or support tech literacy for seniors. Think big.
Funding for a maker space in your community can bring people of all ages together to create. From prototype making, STEM opportunities for youth, high and low tech activities, the opportunities here are limitless.
Community Kitchens
Community kitchens provide an excellent place to share resources, knowledge and food skills. They can help small food businesses launch. Does your community need a new kitchen or upgrades and more capacity for an existing one?
HOW TO INSPIRE LOCAL SUPPORT
When our communities improve, everyone wins. That’s why we know you won’t have a hard time gaining support for your project. To make it simple, we’ve created four ways your community can demonstrate that support, and each time they do, your community project page grows and your submission is strengthened!
1 Add a Story of Support
Would you or someone you love benefit from this new community space or proposed improvements to the existing one? Does this gathering place or community activity hold a special place in your heart? Share your connection, your memories or your hopes for a new space. Tell us what this means to you.
2 Leave a Comment
Short and sweet does the trick too. Leave a simple comment about why you’d like to see this project earn a L.E.A.F. grant, or send a shout out to someone involved.
3 Add an Image
A picture is worth a thousand words. Show us what learning, playing, gathering, and connecting looks like at the community facility you’d like to support. Or show us an outcome this facility has helped achieve – for example, your harvest from a community garden.
4 Share on Facebook
What better way to gain more support than by spreading the word on Facebook! Share with your friends, your neighbours, your colleagues and on community pages and in groups.
2022 COMMONWELL L.E.A.F. GRANT RECIPIENTS
These 10 inspiring, community lead projects across the province earned L.E.A.F. Grants in 2022. Explore each one to learn more about how learning and engagement will be reenergized in these communities and to get ideas.
- Loving Spoonful’s Community Harvest Food Forest
- Community Capacity Building for Food Security in Innisfil
- Wellness Workshop Series
- Milverton All Wheels Park Project
- Reigniting Community Learning through Revitalizing The West Schoolhouse!
- Stirling-Rawdon Public Library Makerspace
- Bonnechere Union Public Library Post-Pandemic Technology Revitalization
- FLEXspace for the Deseronto Public Library
- Kearney & Area Public Library new computers project
- Kids Feeding Kids
- Build Back Better with Kingston Gets Active
- Troy Scott Community Fridge Expansion
- Launchpad 2.0
- Orangeville Public Library Creation Lab (makerspace)
- Killaloe Pathways Park
- Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural Cramahe Township
- The TRACKS tipi – A space where Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth build relationships
- The South Lanark Community Garden Off Grid Greenhouse, Solar, Water Reservoir Project
- ‘ The Completion of the Tatlock Hall “Field of Dreams” ‘
- Richmond Legacy Pavilion
- The Library: A Place for YOUth
- The Sharing Place Meals 4 Change Community Kitchen
- Kars Community Rink Improvement
- PSPL Kids’ Portal: Escape into Knowledge
- Refreshing the Technology Centre at the Whitestone Public Library
- The Drop
- Glen Walter Regional Park Tennis Court Resurfacing
- A Community Hub/Young Adult Centre and Affordable Housing for Gravenhurst
- Revitalization of Woodville/Eldon Community Centre
- Avonmore Community Park Concrete Pad
- Alexandria Skate Park Expansion