PRO Neighborhoods’ mission is to build community by nurturing grassroots neighborhood groups in the City of Tucson and Pima County. PRO Neighborhoods encourages neighborhood residents to utilize their own abilities and resourcefulness to foster grassroots change through partnerships with fellow residents, organizations, businesses, and various governmental agencies. PRO Neighborhoods’ mission is carried out through grant and technical assistance programs that help neighborhood groups to improve their neighborhoods through such activities that promote organizational development, planning, design, and construction.

The PRO Neighborhoods Planning and Design Service Award is intended to help neighborhood groups undertake conceptual planning and design for physical changes to the neighborhood. Groups that receive the award will be partnered with planning and/or design professionals to fulfill a particular project, such as developing a vision, a project conceptual plan, a design, and/or other plans. It is assumed that in many cases the services offered will allow applicants to pursue funding and support from city, county, other nonprofit organizations, and private organizations to take the next steps toward making the project a reality.

While the scope of the project will be negotiated between the neighborhood group and the professionals, the projects receiving the award are generally relatively small. Each of the professionals involved expects to donate between 20 and 40 hours of in-kind services over a six- to nine-month period. The projects of successful applicants may be scaled back to match this limitation.