The City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) launched a $350,000 pilot program to support businesses and commercial corridors within Strategic Neighborhood Development focus neighborhoods (Gentilly, Treme, Algiers, New Orleans East, Lower 9, Hollygrove and Gert Town). These communities have experienced decades of disinvestment, leaving surrounding businesses more vulnerable to economic and environmental disasters, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of an intentional and strategic response to meet the needs of these vital communities, the City of New Orleans and NOLABA launched a joint program, the “Resilient Corridors Initiative,” to provide financial support to businesses to ensure their ability to continue operations through COVID-19 and continue to be anchors for future economic growth within these strategic neighborhoods.
NOLABA and the City will invest $250,000 to initiate the pilot program, which will support a cohort of 40 businesses currently located or with plans to expand within the target neighborhoods.
Businesses chosen to participate in the pilot program will receive $5,000 in grant funding and technical support from a cadre of diverse experts and practitioners that will provide several hours of professional service to the businesses to help implement strategies to sustain their presence through this period of economic downturn and recovery. Technical assistance will be tailored specifically to the needs of each business participating in the pilot program. The Application Portal is now open and can be found here or at www.nolaba.org/resilient-corridors/.
The deadline to apply is December 14, 2020 with announcements of selection by December 21, 2020.
View Resilient Corridor Initiative FAQs here.