The Community in Which We Live

We support active people who want to make positive changes in their community. Our goal is for people to take a greater interest in community affairs, engage in improving neighborhood relations, trust each other, contribute to the self-sufficiency of local communities and deepen their relationship with the landscape.

TYPES OF SUPPORTED PROJECTS

COMMUNITY GATHERING PLACES

We support people working collaboratively to build outdoor or indoor community gathering places, create community centers, community gardens or workshops, park improvements, etc.

LANDSCAPE RESTORATION

We support e.g. groups of neighbors planting alleés of trees, restoring small woods or copses, creating ponds, cleaning springs, maintaining heritage trees, mowing meadows, engaging in community bee keeping and other possible measures to improve the landscape around us.

NEIGHBORLY GATHERINGS

We support people organizing neighborhood meetings and festivals, holding non-commercial cultural events involving local people or guided walks.

COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING EVENTS

We support people raising funds for a local organization or individual in need. A condition of support is that the fundraiser event has a community focus - i.e. it must be about the place where you live and its people and involve the public.

community stewardship

Citizen-led restoration of small monuments, mapping history and reviving forgotten local traditions, cleaning up public spaces or neglected sites, revitalizing parks, nature trails and information boards, etc.

COMMUNITY PLANNING

We support e.g. community planning of public space improvements, questionnaires and surveys, discussions and consultations with experts (e.g. on the development of a community energy system in a village), commissioning of studies or expert documents to support community activities, etc.

DEFENDING PUBLIC INTERESTS

We support people addressing urgent or pressing issues of public concern in their community. We provide support for planning and organizing information campaigns about the given cause, expert opinions, advice and consultation, petition campaigns, organizing local referenda, legal services, litigation costs, etc.
KUNŠTÁT: A FOREST OF OPPORTUNITY
Blansko District The forest adjacent to the town of Kunštát conceals a hidden treasure. The rundown 1940s-era Jelínek lodge is just a few minutes' walk from the center of Kunštát, known mainly for its castle and traditional ceramics. The "In the Sun" civic association, a group of capable and enthusiastic young parents, operates a forest preschool in the lodge with town support. The lodge is surrounded by sun-dappled forest and extensive clearings, and complemented by several unusual buildings, including a former bowling alley. With Via's support, the group will invite town residents to help plan the future use of the entire site and build improvements together, to create new bonds to both place and people.
BÍLA VODA: BAKING BREAD TO BUILD COMMUNITY
Jeseník District How do you develop a community in a tiny village on the Czech-Polish border, where the 320 residents are a mix of seven different nationalities? Bíla Voda is a complex place: the original pre-war inhabitants were deported after WWII, Communists built an internment camp for nuns in the 1950s and it now houses a mental health hospital and an addiction recovery centre. The town leadership is eager to help current residents strengthen bonds to one another. It plans to use bread as the seed (or starter, in this case:)) . With Via's support, the town will invite residents to plan and improve a garden next to the town hall, where it has just installed a bread oven and fruit drying equipment. The vision is a diverse community sharing bread, and their time and energy, to give each other strength.
VOTICE: OPENING A CLOISTER GARDEN
Central Bohemia District The quality of the applications was so outstanding this year that despite not having funding to fully support four projects, we decided to award technical support - i.e., community engagement guidance and workshops - to a fourth project. In Votice, a cloister in the center of town had been closed for generations. A local civic association convinced the town to renovate it and now, with Via's support, the group will engage residents in planning, redesigning and reopening the cloister garden as a central community place.