The Harvard Allston Partnership Fund, which will award a total of $500,000 in grants to neighborhood nonprofit organizations over five years, began accepting its second round of applications this month.

After a delay that caused the first application period to occur in April 2009 rather than 2008, the program has resumed its schedule to distribute $100,000 each year to nonprofit organizations until 2012, as part of the $25 million in benefits that Harvard agreed to give the Allston community in order to proceed with construction of its Allston Science Complex.

The grants benefit initiatives focused on health, education, and neighborhood improvement. Earlier this year, six local nonprofits, including a community health center and a poetry outreach project, were awarded grants by the eight voting members of the Fund Committee.

Paul Berkeley, who is a member of the mayor-appointed group, said that he thought the grant program’s initial round had been successful. He added that in this second round, the Fund would again target groups that deliver services or programs benefiting the North Allston-Brighton community—the area most impacted by Harvard’s institutional expansion.

Ray Mellone, another member of the Committee, said that he and his colleagues would look to simplify the “intimidating” application process and grant paperwork, which he said may have deterred some groups from participating last spring.

“Grant writing is not the forte of a lot of these small nonprofits,” he said.

Mellone added that roughly 40 groups had applied for grants in the first round, and that he expected a similar number of applicants this fall.

According to the Partnership Fund’s Web site, grant proposals are due Oct. 15, and recipients will be announced in December. Technical assistance sessions will be offered in September and October to help organizations fill out the two types of applications—one for grants up to $5,000, and one for grants up to $25,000.

Harvard, which announced in February that it would be slowing construction of its much-heralded Allston Science Complex, has come under fire from local residents who fear that the University is abandoning its institutional plans for the neighborhood in light of fiscal troubles.

But Kevin A. McCluskey ’76, Harvard’s director of community relations for Boston, said that the University has “made a commitment to the provision of community benefits regardless of our [development] timetable.”

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.