Through its Lots of Love program, the Land Bank invites residents and community groups to propose project ideas for vacant lots.   The Land Bank provides the initial installation of a greening project on a vacant lot where the applicant(s) have committed to maintaining the lot for the foreseeable future.  As Shawn Carvin puts it, “there’s a timeline to these projects, and it’s as long as the resident and neighborhood remain interested.”  The Lots of Love program is “targeted at community projects that will provide public space and are selected based on clarity and feasibility of the project idea and community support for the project.”

In order to complete the initial installation of these projects, the Land Bank was able to utilize a dedicated source of land reuse funding that was made available in Ohio’s Neighborhood Initiative Program/Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) as other sources of demolition funding typically do not support post-demolition land reuse.  For each of the project sites, the Land Bank maintains ownership and TNP provides technical support to the Lots of Love community groups including grant writing assistance and quarterly site inspections.

In addition to raised bed gardens and a cut-through pathway, some intriguing examples of projects include a reflective labyrinth, a veteran’s memorial and a children’s garden.  Additionally, a series of basketball hoops have been installed as Lots of Love projects.  As Shawn Carvin explains, residents had become frustrated with guerilla style basketball hoops being set up on neighborhood streets, raising driving traffic safety concerns.  So as an experiment, the Land Bank agreed to pave a targeted street corner vacant lot and install a basketball hoop.  The addition was well-received, and since then additional basketball projects have been completed in other areas where residents requested them.