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Neighborhood endowment coming to Gladstone
Former mayor’s family pledges $1,000 annual endowment
By Jeffrey M. Salem
A city goal to help neighborhoods in Gladstone form associations and become self-sustainable just received some private help.
Councilman and then-Mayor Les Smith, at his State of the City address on April 14, announced the Dan Bishop Neighborhood Endowment Fund will allocate $1,000 each year to a chosen neighborhood association to boost operations. Bishop was a former mayor, councilman and state representative before he died in 2004 at the age of 35. He was known as a champion of neighborhood initiatives. Eight hundred dollars will be given to the association’s board of directors to be used at its discretion, and $200 will be given to an individual in that same neighborhood for personal use. The first recipients were Bolling Heights and Winnie Estep, neighborhood president.
Smith said the extra cash flow pumped into the neighborhoods each year will help the groups, which were guided to formation by a city-hired consultant, sustain long-term success as they wane off financial help from the city. Under the Gladstone Neighborhoods Committee, three neighborhood groups have come to fruition — Bolling Heights, Stormy Acres and Evanston Place — with more planned.
“It’s critical,” Smith said of the endowment. “We provide the funding to get neighborhoods organized. After a certain point in time, that funding ceases, and the neighborhoods are on their own.”
The endowment is being donated by Bishop’s family in his name. Cy Carney, Bishop’s uncle, said the family had planned to give back to the city in Bishop’s name in some way.
“He was a terrific neighborhood activist, and Dan was a key person in pushing those grassroots neighborhood projects forward,” Carney said from his home in Mesa, Ariz.
Estep said all $1,000 of the endowment gift — even her personal $200 — will go toward the purchase of neighborhood entrance signs.
“That’s really going to be a good start for us,” she said of the gift. “I just feel very upbeat about it and just had a feeling I wanted to put the money back into the neighborhood.”
Smith said the endowment had been discussed for a year, but the Bishop family and the city agreed to withhold the funding until the appropriate time.
“We kind of sat on it a bit until the time was right,” Smith said, “because it’s a way of gaining some tangible results.”
Staff writer Jeffrey M. Salem can be reached at 389-6653 or jeffsalem@npgco.com.
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Councilman and then-Mayor Les Smith, at his State of the City address on April 14, announced the Dan Bishop Neighborhood Endowment Fund will allocate $1,000 each year to a chosen neighborhood association to boost operations. Bishop was a former mayor, councilman and state representative before he died in 2004 at the age of 35. He was known as a champion of neighborhood initiatives. Eight hundred dollars will be given to the association’s board of directors to be used at its discretion, and $200 will be given to an individual in that same neighborhood for personal use. The first recipients were Bolling Heights and Winnie Estep, neighborhood president.
Smith said the extra cash flow pumped into the neighborhoods each year will help the groups, which were guided to formation by a city-hired consultant, sustain long-term success as they wane off financial help from the city. Under the Gladstone Neighborhoods Committee, three neighborhood groups have come to fruition — Bolling Heights, Stormy Acres and Evanston Place — with more planned.
“It’s critical,” Smith said of the endowment. “We provide the funding to get neighborhoods organized. After a certain point in time, that funding ceases, and the neighborhoods are on their own.”
The endowment is being donated by Bishop’s family in his name. Cy Carney, Bishop’s uncle, said the family had planned to give back to the city in Bishop’s name in some way.
“He was a terrific neighborhood activist, and Dan was a key person in pushing those grassroots neighborhood projects forward,” Carney said from his home in Mesa, Ariz.
Estep said all $1,000 of the endowment gift — even her personal $200 — will go toward the purchase of neighborhood entrance signs.
“That’s really going to be a good start for us,” she said of the gift. “I just feel very upbeat about it and just had a feeling I wanted to put the money back into the neighborhood.”
Smith said the endowment had been discussed for a year, but the Bishop family and the city agreed to withhold the funding until the appropriate time.
“We kind of sat on it a bit until the time was right,” Smith said, “because it’s a way of gaining some tangible results.”
Staff writer Jeffrey M. Salem can be reached at 389-6653 or jeffsalem@npgco.com.