The shaky national economy has made it tougher to raise capital for the Northern Kentucky Catalytic Development Fund, but Executive Director Jeanne Schroer said that may have been a blessing in disguise. The fund, which has a $10-million kickoff goal, will offer gap funding for residential, small retail and multi-use projects in the urban centers of Northern Kentucky. Launched in September 2008, it's just over halfway to meeting that number, with $6.5 million. But with the economy showing signs of strengthening, Schroer believes it will reach $10 million by year's end, with better planning and processes in place than if they money had been raised sooner. "If we had raised the money earlier, it wouldn't have been a great time to begin new projects. This (lag) has given us the time we need as an organization to put our structures in place to do a good job identifying projects and defining lending criteria. In retrospect it has been a good thing," Schroer said. The fund will primarily go toward residential projects, but will also consider mixed-used and neighborhood retail, Schroer said. "We'll also look at something like converting a historic structure into an office building." Schroer said she's "fairly confident" in reaching the $10 million goal by the end of the year. If so, project financing will begin in early 2012. The fund got it latest and largest single contribution with a recent $2 million commitment from PNC Bank. Previous commitments came from Corporex ($1 million), Bank of Kentucky ($1 million), Duke Energy ($1 million), Central Bank ($1 million) and the Haile/US Bank Foundation ($500K). Those large commitments show that the corporate community believes in the strengthening the region's urban core including Covington, Newport, Dayton and Bellevue, Schroer said. "They are making the commitment to the fund for a number of different reasons. All of them recognize our region needs a vibrant core to be economically competitive. I also believe they have a lot of faith in Northern Kentucky's potential to be a big part of the urban renaissance of our downtowns," she said. The fund was an initiative of the Urban Renaissance Action Team of the Northern Kentucky's Vision 2015 regional planning effort. Plans are to leverage those dollars to raise more than $100 million for development. Writer: Feoshia Henderson for Soapbox

Covington gets a Business Improvement District (BID) thanks to a collaborative private/public partnership that includes the city of Covington, philanthropic foundations, and the Urban Partnership of Covington. The District is bordered by Martin Luther King Drive (12th Street) and the Ohio River and the Licking River and Interstate 75. The Urban Partnership plans to raise money over the next year to provide free clean and safe services for the community. These services include power washing sidewalks, removing graffiti, picking up litter, and eventually providing additional services such as marketing/communications and stakeholder services. "We really think that cleaning up the urban core and residential units will spur investment and business to Covington," said Pat Frew, the Executive Director of Urban Partnership of Covington. "A priority for us is to increase middle income market rate housing because we have very high income and also very low income housing in the area. If you bring a new business to the community, you must have middle income range housing in order for the business to sustain growth, and that's where we're really lacking." Covington decided it was time to revamp the city area after seeing success in neighboring cities like Cincinnati and Louisville. Both Downtown Cincinnati Inc. and the Louisville Downtown Management District have proven successful by luring residents, shoppers, and diners back downtown - both cities have been helpful and supportive by sharing information with Covington. Paul Sartori, Partner with Legacy Financial Advisors and Steve Brunson, Vice President/Director of Business Development for Republic Bank have both agreed to co-chair the Urban Partnership of Covington in order to raise $600,000 within the next two years. "We have a lot of challenges to face," Frew explained. "It's like when you need to go on a diet, you didn't get fat over night. The city took years of neglect to get in its current condition. It's not going to be reversed overnight and we're going to have to all pull together to make this work. That's why partnership is important because we are looking for ways we can work together to make it a better place to live." The Urban Partnership also received a $10,000 gift from Duke Energy to assist in funding operations for the recently launched Business Improvement District. Frew explained that they have already raised over $100,000 in funds from various corporations and local contributors and have already gained tremendous support from Mayor Denny Bowman, Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati, the Catalytic Development Funding Corporation of NKy, and Alex Blust, General Manager of Holiday Inn Riverfront. Writer: Lisa Ensminger for Soapbox

Covington gets a Business Improvement District (BID) thanks to a collaborative private/public partnership that includes the city of Covington, philanthropic foundations, and the Urban Partnership of Covington. The District is bordered by Martin Luther King Drive (12th Street) and the Ohio River and the Licking River and Interstate 75. The Urban Partnership plans to raise money over the next year to provide free clean and safe services for the community. These services include power washing sidewalks, removing graffiti, picking up litter, and eventually providing additional services such as marketing/communications and stakeholder services. "We really think that cleaning up the urban core and residential units will spur investment and business to Covington," said Pat Frew, the Executive Director of Urban Partnership of Covington. "A priority for us is to increase middle income market rate housing because we have very high income and also very low income housing in the area. If you bring a new business to the community, you must have middle income range housing in order for the business to sustain growth, and that's where we're really lacking."Covington decided it was time to revamp the city area after seeing success in neighboring cities like Cincinnati and Louisville. Both Downtown Cincinnati Inc. and the Louisville Downtown Management District have proven successful by luring residents, shoppers, and diners back downtown - both cities have been helpful and supportive by sharing information with Covington.Paul Sartori, Partner with Legacy Financial Advisors and Steve Brunson, Vice President/Director of Business Development for Republic Bank have both agreed to co-chair the Urban Partnership of Covington in order to raise $600,000 within the next two years."We have a lot of challenges to face," Frew explained. "It's like when you need to go on a diet, you didn't get fat over night. The city took years of neglect to get in its current condition. It's not going to be reversed overnight and we're going to have to all pull together to make this work. That's why partnership is important because we are looking for ways we can work together to make it a better place to live."The Urban Partnership also received a $10,000 gift from Duke Energy to assist in funding operations for the recently launched Business Improvement District. Frew explained that they have already raised over $100,000 in funds from various corporations and local contributors and have already gained tremendous support from Mayor Denny Bowman, Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati, the Catalytic Development Funding Corporation of NKy, and Alex Blust, General Manager of Holiday Inn Riverfront. Writer: Lisa Ensminger for Soapbox

The 21st-annual Kentucky International Trade and Investment Conference, organized by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, was held on Thursday, May 19, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington. The conference aims to give small- and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to build relationships with international firms. Thirty speakers from the U.S. and seven foreign countries presented on export opportunities, logistics, and expanding global markets. Economies in industrially developing countries like Iran, China, Russia and Brazil could grow by as much as 9% annually for the next several years.

Each summer, Thomas More College invites area youth to enhance their skills in a variety of activities. As a community-focused institution, the College welcomes thousands of children to see TMC through their own eyes, whether that's via a STEM educational camp at the Biology Field Station, an athletic camp on the courts and fields, in the theater at drama camp or at TMC's newest addition, Secret Adventures Camp.

The third annual Cincinnati Innovates competition has just started, growing to offer nearly $90,000 in prizes designed to push forward groundbreaking products and services."The goal of Cincinnati Innovates is to connect aspiring entrepreneurs - people with ideas - to all the great resources our region has to offer: incubators, angel investors, banks, mentors, and experts. The grant awards are just the first step," says Elizabeth Edwards, venture capital investor and founder of Cincinnati Innovates.The competition opened April 15 and continues through July 15. As in the past two years, it's open to anyone now or originally from a 15-county area of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. The contest is looking for a broad range of innovative products, devices, business processes and more to highlight, fund and support. This year 12 awards will be given with a $25,000 top cash prize sponsored by CincyTech. For many winners, Cincinnati Innovates is an early step in their path to development, investment and growth. In total, more than $135,000 has been awarded, with winners attracting more than $3 million in additional financing, said competition founder Elizabeth Edwards."There have been lots of new patents filed, a lot of new funding. There has been some really great progress for these startups, and that was exactly wanted we wanted to see happen," said Edwards.To enter the contest or get more info, go to the contest website. There you'll enter a short description of your idea and upload pictures, video, or sketches to help explain and showcase it. You can also take a look at past entries and winners. Last year more than 300 people entered and more than 100 attended supporting innovation workshops offered during the competition timeline.This year those workshops will expand and include: Patents and Trademarks, Startup Financing, Individual Health Insurance, Branding, Concept Development, and Licensing.There are 25 Cincinnati Innovates sponsors (including Soapbox); many are offering cash or in-kind service awards including the $25,000 CincyTech award; $10,000 and $5,000 in-kind Taft Patent Awards applied toward the patent process. There are two $10,000 in-kind branding and marketing awards: the Round Pixel Studio Web Development Award and the LPK Design and Branding Award.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Elizabeth Edwards, founder Cincinnati Innovates