Vibrant Community Fund

The Vibrant Community Fund (VCF) panel is tasked by the City of Charlottesville with reviewing community agency program funding requests to the City with providing ratings recommendations to the Charlottesville City Manager and City Council. City staff serve as the grant managers for the Vibrant Community Fund process, including issuing the application, facilitating orientation and trainings, providing technical assistance to applicant agencies, organizing and staffing panel meetings, and preparing a final report. City Council makes the ultimate funding decisions.

The application for the FY25 process is slated to open on Sept. 20, 2023 and close Oct. 31, 2023. The application can be found here: Zoom Grants FY25 Application. 


Please contact Hunter Smith at smithha@charlottesville.gov if you have any questions.


The competitive process begins with technical assistance orientation and training for prospective applicants, generally held in early fall. Applicants are provided with special instructions, an overview of the process and any specific priority areas identified by the local government. Applications are accepted via an online tool. 

This year applications must meet the following City Council priorities:

•    Education, Youth and Families

•    Health and Safety

•    Economic Impact & Jobs

•    The New and Emerging category of the VCF is specifically for organizations that have never applied to VCF or they are 5 years old or younger, and also meet one of the above City Council priorities.

•    The Vibrant Community Fund will also facilitate applications for organizations focusing on Arts & Culture.  

Please note that applicants focused on Affordable Housing and Homelessness Supports will be considered as part of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund (CAHF) Process. Please contact Alex Ikefuna at ikefuna@charlottesville.gov for more questions regarding the CAHF process.

The applications are reviewed and scored by the designated panel on quality of application and level of importance. Panel members consist of diverse members; those with lived experience as a consumer of services, non-profit and/or grant writing experience, and city staff. Applications are scored individually and then discussed as a team.

Public Meetings

The city holds a series of public meetings to hear community feedback in the creation of the annual budget, including a work session dedicated to discussion of the Vibrant  Community Fund recommendations and final adoption. The public is specifically invited to attend this work session typically held in early spring.