What the heck does Charlotte Center City Partners actually do?

You may have heard of Charlotte Center City Partners, but do you have any idea what it does? No judgement here if you don’t — I didn’t really know until we recorded this podcast.

On this week’s CharlotteFive Podcast, we talked to CCCP President and CEO Michael Smith about the organization and its role in uptown and the surrounding areas.

This was the perfect conversation for the week of Thanksgiving because one of the most visible things CCCP does is put on the Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade, which steps off in uptown at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

But the nonprofit organization, formed in 1978 as the Uptown Development Corporation and renamed 1997, does way more than just the parade. Smith and his team “envision and implement strategies and actions to drive the economic, social and cultural development of Charlotte’s Center City.”

That means doing a lot of things, from developing a vision plan every 10 years (here’s the 2020 plan) to planning events in the area to bringing something like 7th Street Public Market to the city. The organization sees itself as a “convener,” gathering experts and leaders to think about things like transportation, sustainability, neighborhoods and development.

Basically, CCCP is trying to make uptown Charlotte, South End, West End and other center city neighborhoods as awesome as they can be.

We talked to Smith about why having a thriving center city matters, how the recent protests affected uptown and about his vision for the future of Charlotte’s urban core.

Other things discussed on this week’s podcast:

– What we’re thankful for in Charlotte.

– Why I’m scared I might go to jail.

– Richard’s trip to Las Vegas.

The CharlotteFive Podcast — presented by The Charlotte Observer and powered by OrthoCarolina — is a weekly podcast that aims to get you Charlotte Smart, Fast with fun, interesting and useful news about the city. It’s hosted by Corey Inscoe and Sarah Crosland.

You can find The CharlotteFive Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher. You can follow us on Twitter @Charlotte_Five, on Instagram @cltfive, and on Facebook, and you can shoot us an email to charlottefive@charlottefive.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Charlotte Center City Partners

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 8:04 PM with the headline "What the heck does Charlotte Center City Partners actually do?."