CHARLOTTE, N.C. — University City Partners now has a plan to spend a $237,500 pandemic grant the city of Charlotte should've given the nonprofit back in 2020.
City leaders approved the overdue funding in June after WCNC Charlotte discovered the mistake while investigating the Small Business Partner Support Grant program.
President and CEO Keith Stanley said, in the months since then, UCP has decided to use the grant to build a database of University City-area businesses, so the nonprofit can then survey every one of them and provide resources over the next year.
"We're here to support our businesses," Stanley told WCNC Charlotte. "We estimate there are over 1,300 businesses in University City. It actually could be a lot more than that. That's what this grant will help us with. We want to support these businesses, give them what they need, so they can grow, so they can continue to hire locally."
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Stanley said UCP is creating an engagement team, so no businesses are overlooked.
"Go out, knock on the doors, send them emails, send them mailers, let the businesses know that we're here," Stanley said. "Then, we can respond accordingly."
A "Where's the Money?" investigation revealed the city's grant review team approved a combined $430,000 in grants to three other organizations in 2020 despite University City Partners scoring higher on its application. Once alerted of the discrepancy, Councilmember Reneé Perkins Johnson led the effort to make things right.
"It was a human error, and we're going to make it up to them," Johnson told WCNC Charlotte.
University City is one of the largest areas of Charlotte and one of the fastest growing in the state.
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