Hall-Perrine Foundation awards $750,000 grant to Block by Block neighborhood-rebuilding cause

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Hall-Perrine Foundation has awarded the Block by Block neighborhood-revitalization group a grant for $750,000, Block by Block announced on Thursday.

Block by Block is in the process of helping owners renovate homes in more than 20 flood-hit blocks in Cedar Rapids.

The organization is run by Four Oaks family services agency and its Affordable Housing Network Inc., Matthew 25 Ministry Hub and the United Methodist Church.

“The Hall-Perrine Foundation board of directors is impressed with the accomplishments of the Block by Block program. … Their efforts are making a visible and substantive difference,” said Jack Evans, the foundation's president.

Block by Block got started last summer with a $1-million gift from John Smith, chairman of trucking firm CRST International, and his wife Dyan; $700,000 in flood donations made through the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation; and $200,000 from the United Methodist Church.

The McIntyre Foundation and the Rockwell Collins Employees United Fund are among others who have contributed to the Block by Block effort.