
About Opzoomer Mee
The Opzoomer Mee Foundation supports residents’ initiatives for their streets, neighbourhoods and districts in the city of Rotterdam. The foundation got its name in the late 1980s from the Opzoomerstraat in the district of Delfshaven. The residents took matters into their own hands and made their street more attractive, friendlier and greener. From that time, Rotterdam had a new verb, ‘opzoomeren’, which means ‘sprucing up’. The Opzoomer Mee Foundation has supported these sprucing-up initiatives in Rotterdam since 1994. Rotterdam now has approximately 2,100 streets that have registered with the foundation. In each of these streets, residents take ownership of their activities and initiatives.
In addition to our own programme of sprucing-up initiatives, the Opzoomer Mee Foundation also processes the subsidy applications for resident initiatives on behalf of the city of Rotterdam. In addition, Opzoomer Mee supports Rotterdam residents who have ideas for their neighbourhood or district with advice and information.
One of Opzoomer Mee’s methods, the Lief & Leed Streets (streets sharing their highs and lows), are popular with other towns. For a fee, Opzoomer Mee makes knowledge and materials available to other councils. There are currently 46 towns participating. Opzoomer Mee coordinates the national network of which all these councils are members.
The Opzoomer Mee team consists of fifteen employees.
What is Opzoomeren?
In streets that participate in these neighbourhood-based initiatives, residents dedicate themselves to cultivating strong community ties. In these streets, residents are proactively coming together to meet as neighbours, get to know each other better and. Residents join forces together and actively build a street network. A couple of residents in the street take the lead; they initiate activities and involve other residents to get things organised. We call them our driving force as they form the engine of the active street networks and our foundation.
Annual offer to the streets
Streets that want to spruce up their street through Opzoomer Mee can do so three or four times a year and organise a street activity. Streets receive a microbudget for this of €150 or €175 per street.
Residents can also add more greenery to their streets and request a rain barrel to help take care of it throughout the year. Streets can use one of their microbudgets to maintain their communal planting areas.
Throughout the year, residents can apply for funds to keep their streets clean together with their neighbours. This also applies to the Lief & Leed Streets funding.
The application for such an activity needs to be signed by five residents and submitted to Opzoomer Mee. A project manager from Opzoomer Mee will review the application, and if approved, the residents will receive their contribution within 1 or 2 weeks.
Alongside the microbudgets, residents can apply for additional support from the Opzoomer Mee Foundation. This could, for example, include information and advice, a starter pack for new streets, or a wagon with all kinds of useful items like chairs, tables, and other materials which help residents to organise a street activity.
Finances of Opzoomer Mee
Opzoomer Mee receives a subsidy within the framework of urban welfare in the city of Rotterdam. The foundation receives additional funds for green spaces and street cleaning projects.