Bloomington Cooperative Living seeks $8,500 for digital outreach to fill cooperative homes

Bloomington Cooperative Living requested $8,500 from the Jack Hopkins Social Services Grant Funding Committee to support digital outreach for the 2027–28 membership cycle. Andrew Hodges, a member and secretary of the housing co-op, told the committee the cooperative runs five houses—about 75 units—and plans to add roughly 10 units over the next year.

"To introduce Bloomington Cooperative Living, we are a housing coop... we are a nonprofit fair housing provider, that is governed and operated by the tenants or members who live there," Hodges said, describing a tenant-run model that keeps rent low and provides social community. He outlined a budget that includes $2,000 for a website redesign, $3,500 for Meta and Google ad spend targeted to Monroe County, and $3,000 for social media ad management contracted through worker cooperatives that offered discounted rates.

Hodges said the coop currently recruits mainly by word-of-mouth, tabling and flyers and that the digital work would both expand outreach "to all low income people in Monroe County" and reduce vacancy turnover by establishing a wait list. He added that the membership team could manage ads if funding for ad management is not awarded.

Committee members asked whether the coop would prioritize current Bloomington residents if new applicants outnumber openings. Hodges said the group has no explicit local-resident preference and expects selection to be chronological, with interviews used to ensure compatibility with existing households.

The committee did not vote at the meeting and thanked the presenters; applicants were given follow-up time to answer questions but were not asked to provide additional documentation during the session.