Description
Building Capacity for Business District Organizations
The City of Charlotte’s Corridors of Opportunity program works across six corridors to
- Foster thriving communities for residents and businesses
- Build lasting legacies
- Grow communities equitably
Corridors are vital to the health of Charlotte's communities, serving as links that connect people to the resources and businesses they need to live and thrive.
To uplift these communities, the city is partnering with Business District Organizations (BDOs) within the corridors to strengthen the vitality of neighborhood commercial districts. The city intends to partner with these place-based organizations as they work to establish a collective vision for their district and champion the businesses and stakeholders to create a vibrant, healthy, and active place to do business.
Building on the city’s ongoing efforts to support BDOs through the longstanding Business District Organization Grant Program, administered by the city’s Economic Development department, and utilizing a one-time funding opportunity through federal dollars from ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act), the program will streamline and scale the opportunity for corridor-based established and emerging BDOs to receive organization-building and business-supporting services. These prequalified services are structured around 1) building up the BDOs' organizational capacity and structure and 2) increasing each organization’s value to the individual businesses and stakeholders within their district. Program participation will be designed based on the individual needs of each BDO and conducted in a progressive approach to provide foundational, long-lasting support for the organization.
To accomplish this, the City of Charlotte plans to solicit for existing and emerging BDOs to apply for this one-time funding opportunity. Charlotte City Council has approved $1 million to elevate this initiative. In the coming weeks, the city will release the eligibility requirements, the list of prequalified services and open the application portal.
The funding application will open on Monday, May 6 and close on Friday, June 14 at 5p.m. If your organization is interested in this opportunity, you can email your questions to corridorsofopportunity@charlottenc.gov.
All questions and answers will be posted in an updated FAQ document.
Attachments
Grant Overview(PDF, 2MB)