The Downtown Pandemic Assistant Grant Program was created to provide financial assistance to small businesses severely impacted by the COVID pandemic. The program application process was designed to be completed with simplicity and ease. Elements of the program’s success included a web-based application platform and marketing to alert area small businesses to the program.
Award
Type: Award
Parramore Asset Stabilization Fund: New Directions in Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization
In 2018, the Parramore Asset Stabilization Fund (PASF) was formed as a collaboration of three high-performing nonprofits with the goal to transform affordable rental housing into sustainable quality homes. PASF purchased 83 residential units across 44 properties in Orlando’s African American Parramore neighborhood, with a commitment to renovate units and keep rents affordable for existing tenants. While delayed due to COVID-19, the project was successfully completed by December 2021.
Let’s Glow SF
Let’s Glow SF is a 10-night holiday activation, the largest holiday projection mapping event in the country. Shows were played in a continuous loop with custom music starting at 5:30 pm and ending at 10:00 pm. Each light show ranged in length from five to seven minutes. Let’s Glow SF received wide media praise for its innovative use of art and technology to bring visitors and workers back to downtown, which had been suffering under the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ATL Downtown Counts: Street Homelessness Survey
The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District conducted the first and only real-time enumeration survey of street homelessness targeted solely in downtown Atlanta and funded by the Community Improvement District. The survey was an all-volunteer, one-day outdoor event adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. Partner agencies included the Atlanta Police Department, the ADID Ambassador Force and a large group of downtown business and residential stakeholders.
Marriages on The Mile – Weddings at Wrigley
Marriages on The Mile – Weddings at Wrigley was a first-time event collaboration between The Magnificent Mile Association and The Wrigley Building/Zeller. It existed as the premier event of a larger closed-street activation series on Michigan Avenue. The event featured 50 real-time weddings for couples displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic in a very public, very Chicago-centric location on The Magnificent Mile as part of the free, accessible lineup of programming on September 26, 2021.
Bear Street Shared Street Reconstruction
The Bear Street Reconstruction project created a pedestrian-priority street in the heart of the Town of Banff. Running parallel to Banff Avenue, Bear Street is home to a mix of services. The reconstruction transformed the street into a pedestrian-friendly space where people live, shop, dine, enjoy culture and community amenities, or relax and take in the mountains. The reconstruction project has increased visitation to Bear Street and created more economic opportunity for area businesses.
Mpls Downtown reanimation: collective action
Downtowns across the country are changing. The stakes for the future of downtowns could not be higher, with the vitality of urban cores hinging on employees returning to their offices and patrons returning to restaurants, events and activities. The Mpls Downtown Council recognized the weight of the moment early and identified an opportunity in our community to lead with collective action.
Black Joy Storywindows
In response to the devastating cultural and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Black Joy StoryWindows was an effort to create a safe, outdoor, walkable and driveable, multi-media storefront gallery experience in the heart of downtown Oakland and simultaneously keep alive, and in the community’s consciousness, the power and beauty of the Black Joy Parade, an annual parade that follows the same footprint as our StoryWindows project.
Neighborhood Now: Jackson Heights
Neighborhoods Now connects neighborhoods hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with leading design firms. Early in the pandemic, Jackson Heights became the pandemic’s USA epicenter threatening the livelihood of the families running micro-businesses in the community. Given its deep root in the community and knowledge of small business’s needs, the 82nd Street Partnership was tapped to become the local partner helping connect volunteer architects and designers with the most needed businesses.
Community First
The Times Square Alliance partnered with several organizations to pilot Community First, a program designed to help people in the district who are housing insecure and/or in need of human services and to create a more livable community for all. Community First addresses the economic and racial disparities of housing insecure community members in the area by building relationships and making connections to services such as housing, mental health, and/or benefits, among other services.
Night Circus: A District New Year’s Spectacular
The Cool Spring Downtown District partnered with the city to launch the inaugural Night Circus: A District New Year’s Eve Spectacular. The family-friendly event was the first NYE celebration to occur in the city in nearly a decade. The event brought the magic of a traveling circus to the heart of Fayetteville. As the last seconds to midnight counted down, a commissioned 18ft. multi-colored star rose above the crowd, illuminated at midnight from within and without via a vibrant fireworks display.
Sundays on State
Chicago Loop Alliance identified the need for a program to accelerate economic recovery, unite the community, and create joy. The project also needed to encourage people back to the Loop and restore their perception of the area. The concept for Sundays on State was to close Chicago’s most iconic street, to all traffic on select Sundays during the summer and transform into an open street full of art, culture, active recreation, food, drinks, shopping, and local attractions.
Explorer in Chief
Prior to Covid, the Downtown Alliance launched the Explorer in Chief contest, calling for one-minute video submissions for the ultimate summer dream job. For the Explorer in Chief, this would be a life-changing opportunity to work as a travel ambassador in one of the world’s high-profile tourism destinations. For the Downtown Alliance, it would be a game-changing way to showcase Lower Manhattan as an extraordinary place to visit, work and live.
The Junction Window Wonderland Exhibition
Toronto’s magical Window Wonderland, a free immersive urban art walk, returned to the Junction for its second consecutive year. From November 2021 to January 2022, Window Wonderland transformed the Junction into an interactive, outdoor gallery featuring 20 unique augmented reality (AR) installations by 40 talented local and international artists.
Alabama’s Oldest School Becomes Its Newest
Barton Academy is considered the birthplace of public education in Alabama. As populations shifted from downtown, the building ceased operating as a school, and the future of one of the most historic buildings in the city was unclear. By May 2020, renovation of the national landmark was underway. Two hundred students were welcomed to campus on August 11, 2021. For the first time in 60 years, students walked the halls; for Black students, it was the first time ever.
Festival of Markets
The Festival of Markets took place in December 2021 for four consecutive weekends on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and a one day event held on December 23rd. Each weekend had a different theme and vendors including IndigenART, POPArt, Very Vintage Xmas, Afrik and Last Minute London. Vendors who were featured at our Festival of Markets came from various ethnicities including individuals from African, Asian and Indigienous descent as well as members from the LGBTQ+ community.
The Majestic
In October 2021, Partner Tulsa and Downtown Tulsa Partnership unveiled a 15,000sf mural titled “The Majestic” on the five-story façade of the Main Park Plaza garage in the center of the Downtown Tulsa Art Deco District. TPA collaborated with the Tulsa Arts Commission and Downtown Tulsa Partnership to undertake this public art commission focused on reinvigorating with activity and interest. At the time of the unveiling and today, The Majestic is the world’s largest augmented reality mural.
Building Downtown: DEI Toolkit for Commercial Development
Diversity doesn’t happen by accident. The Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) believes that a downtown for everyone must be created by everyone. The DMC established an innovative set of policies and programs designed to proactively invite women and people of color into the process tackling commercial development projects. The DMC’s incentive toolkit was revised and expanded in an organized effort to ensure that the people engaged in this work reflect the full diversity of the community.
Gallery Alley
Gallery Alley began as a temporary pilot project with the goal of creating more walkability and increasing safety. Downtown Wichita received a grant to reestablish the space as a permanent destination for an intersensory art experience. Five Kansas artists were commissioned to create sculptures with a multi-sensory approach in order to be accessible to those with vision as well as those who are blind, visually impaired, and for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Rapid Recovery Planning Program
The Rapid Recovery Plan (RRP) program distributed nearly $10 million across 124 communities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to assess impacts from COVID-19 and develop actionable, project-based recovery plans tailored to the unique economic challenges in downtowns, town centers, and commercial districts. In total, the program has resulted in nearly 1,000 actionable project recommendations requiring mixed levels of funding, technical assistance, and resources.
Imagine Downtown KC 2030 Strategic Plan
The Downtown Council of Kansas City, Missouri (DTC) had just begun a strategic planning process when COVID-19 brought things to a standstill. The events of 2020, including economic uncertainty and the elevated recognition of racial and social inequities, allowed the DTC and its partners to ask critical questions: how can we fully engage the community, and how do we ensure that the strategic plan ensures that downtown’s opportunities provide meaningful and tangible benefits for everyone?
Gilbert Heritage District Design Guidelines
Gilbert’s Heritage District (HD) is approximately 0.3 square miles in size, serving as the community’s downtown, entertainment district, and the cultural/historical center of the community. The intent of the HD Design Guidelines is to foster design excellence that encourages a pedestrian-oriented and adaptive environment that serves as the community’s historic living room. Gilbert initiated a review of the 2010 guidelines by holding meetings which included staff and a diverse steering committee.
Lake Eola Park Master Plan
Located in the core of downtown, Lake Eola Park serves as centerpiece for downtown and for Orlando. The Community Redevelopment Agency worked to master plan this valuable asset, re-envisioning it for the next 50 years. The process leading to the final master plan considered the place of the park in the context of the downtown, city, and region, along with a thorough analysis its surroundings, and an evaluation of how Lake Eola Park compares to other iconic parks throughout the country.
BuildDowntown Master Plan
Over the past decade, Memphis has begun a renaissance, leaning into tech, medical device/innovation, and agribusiness – industries fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit that locally-grown giants FedEx, AutoZone, and St Jude pour into our community. BUILDDOWNTOWN focuses on creating the kind of environment that is attractive to the demographic fueling most knowledge-economy jobs. It seeks to transform Downtown into a robust regional engine of economic opportunity, equity, and culture.
Evergy Plaza
In 2014 community leaders were presented with a consultant’s findings on how to recharge downtown Topeka, and the primary recommendation was to build a community space to gather and create civic pride. With the Downtown Topeka Foundation leading the project, millions of dollars in public and private funding were pooled to make it a reality.
Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority Gateways Initiative
Completed in fall 2020, the Downtown Gateways Initiative created distinctive arrival experiences using signage, landscaping, hardscaping, lighting, public art and wayfinding at each of the nine vehicular points of entry to Downtown Colorado Springs. This intensive process incorporated qualitative input and engagement from more than 300 unique contacts and stakeholders.
Small Business Innovation Fund
The Center City Small Business Innovation Fund is an initiative designed to spur and support innovation and adaptation by small businesses as they adapt to the new economic realities caused by the COVID-19 crisis and economic downturn. This award delves into the details of the application, outreach, and review process as well as challenges faced in the program’s implementation.
Lawrenceburg Civic Park
Celebrated as a regional destination and center for the community, the new Lawrenceburg Civic Park dramatically re-presents the once fragmented vehicular landscape into a unified series of settings for people, nature, and programming. What was once 1.5 acres of paved parking lots is now a public space that fills a critical need in the city’s existing public open space and provides a regional destination as an outdoor entertainment venue.
Downtown Los Angeles Virtual Tour Platform
The DTLA Virtual Tour platform is an innovative tool developed by the Downtown Center BID to showcase the Downtown Los Angeles real estate market, its most significant properties, public spaces, and development projects, to investors, developers, brokers, and prospective commercial and residential tenants. With a dynamic combination of interactive technology, digital mapping, high-definition photography, and drone video footage the DTLA Virtual Tour offers both a bird’s-eye view of downtown.
Curbside San Diego
Curbside San Diego is an initiative spearheaded by the Downtown San Diego Partnership to promote the creative and flexible use of the public right-of-way for the expansion of outdoor business operations in downtown San Diego during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative’s two primary goals are to develop creative and flexible uses of the public-right-of-way and promote long-term solutions to transforming downtown’s streets and sidewalks into vibrant people-focused places.
Moore Square Improvements
The four-acre downtown urban green space was originally conceived as one of five public green spaces for the City of Raleigh. In recent years, frequent large-scale events and daily use have taken their toll on the park’s vegetation, soils, and paving. This pressure, combined with the planned development in the surrounding neighborhood, prompted the city to renovate Moore Square to meet the changing needs of its users.
Messages for the City
Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Times Square Arts presented Messages for the City in partnership with Poster House, PRINT Magazine, and For Freedoms. First debuted on April 17, 2020, this Times Square and citywide public art campaign featured artist-designed PSAs and messages of love, gratitude, and solidarity with New York City’s health care and essential workers.
Denver Startup Week
Denver Startup Week is a celebration of Denver’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and culture of innovation, designed to showcase downtown’s strong landscape for starting and growing a business. This year, Denver Startup Week reached all the way around the world, and our 23,000+ YouTube views and more than 18,000 Zoom attendees mean that Denver Startup Week 2020 reached further than ever before!
Project Hope, Unity and Compassion
Throughout history, downtowns and town squares have served as the foundation of society’s freedom of expression and the center of community discourse. Downtown Tulsa is certainly no different. At an incredibly tense time in our community, and in the midst of planning for unprecedented events, we found an opportunity to showcase Downtown Tulsa’s core values on temporary canvases.
O2: Outdoor Office
Rosslyn, Virginia is a community of over 25,000 employees and 15,000 residents who work or live in the buildings that make up Arlington’s iconic skyline along the Potomac River. Dozens of large, top-tier companies like Nestle, Microsoft, Deloitte and Gartner call Rosslyn home, so when the pandemic hit, the Rosslyn BID quickly began re-envisioning the future of work in Rosslyn, not only for employees, but the Rosslyn residents that were now working from home.
Dining Delivery Support Program
The Fort Wayne Downtown Improvement District (D.I.D.) was searching for ways to help keep downtown restaurants in business while operating within the bounds of the safety restrictions we were experiencing. This sparked an idea to partner with a local downtown delivery company Waiter on the Way to deliver for downtown restaurants with a special discount.
Shadows at Sixth
“Shadows at Sixth: An Elevated Halloween Drive Thru” is unlike any event seen in Little Rock before. Held in a multi-level parking deck in downtown Little Rock, this drive-thru, family-friendly event was created to bring joy and fun safely to Central Arkansans in a time of uncertainty and isolation.
Street Show Artists Unite for Justice
Street Show Artists Unite for Justice was a virtual expansion of our street performance program that produced live streaming shows from our regular slate of street performers, as well as specially recorded and edited “Street Show Gems” that were taped at quintessential locations throughout downtown Minneapolis. Following George Floyd’s killing, all artist payments were matched by Mpls DID contributions to social justice organizations selected by the participating artists.
Dining on the Spot
The Dining on the Spot program, which provided expanded outdoor dining options when indoor seating was closed early March and April, was directly responsible for keeping Downtown West Palm Beach restaurants in business. In addition to creating a mechanism to continue serving customers, the DDA also provided funding for equipment rental and a branded signage program for restaurants participating in Dining on the Spot.
SODO Track
The SODO Track is transforming the portal to Downtown Seattle—a two mile transit corridor lined by industrial building backs—into an imaginative raceway of art in motion for over 50,000 people to experience daily. What was once an industrial zone is now a world-class art destination and a fitting welcome to the international city Seattle has become.