CNBDU Promotes Neighborhood Health
A Clifton business owner, John Price, was frustrated at having City Budget requests denied every year. He discovered that other business owners and other neighborhoods shared his concerns. In 1990, he founded CNBDU Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United. In April 1993, Mr. Price incorporated CNBDU as a non-profit corporation with the mission of preserving and developing the Neighborhood Business Districts throughout the City of Cincinnati.
The organization's focus is job retention/creation and the revitalization, stabilization, conversion, growth and developmental needs of the Cincinnati business districts. The members of this organization recognize that Cincinnati's neighborhood business districts have their own individual and traditional charm and that the future of a neighborhood district should not be left to chance, and certainty of its growth and development should be guided by actively interested business people throughout their district.
CNBDU accomplishes its mission and focus by assisting Neighborhood Business Districts in planning and defining redevelopment efforts through volunteer technical assistance and by providing recommendations to the City of Cincinnati regarding funding of development projects in the Neighborhood Business Districts.
CNBDU is a coalition of volunteer business owners representing approximately 33 business districts in the City of Cincinnati. Each of these individuals donates her or his time to their own neighborhoods, and the City of Cincinnati as a whole. The underlying principal has been business people making business decisions.
CNBDU was asked by the City Manager in 1994 to serve as an advisory board to provide independent review of and recommendations about economic development efforts in the business districts. CNBDU completed its first annual funding review in 1995 and has continued to recommend funding for business districts on an annual basis since that time.
In 2005, the City established the Neighborhood Business District Support Fund (NBDSF) and asked CNBDU to be the entity that reviews and approves funding requests from the districts.
We are part of one of the most cooperative and successful programs in the City, leveraging private investments to match public dollars at a ratio of approximately 7:1.