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by JOSEPH WOZNIAK The mission of the College Hill Alliance has been to "assist the community in creating positive change to the physical and social fabric of the College Hill Corridor." It was created by a three-year, $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation, and became operational in the fall of 2009. In September 2012, the Knight Foundation awarded $2.6 million toward continuing the Alliance's work and expanding its influence to assist entrepreneurs in the area for another three years. Because of the Alliance, the College Hill Corridor has seen truly vast improvements in Macon's revitalization efforts. The College Hill Corridor Commission, a diverse group of volunteers, has been the driving force behind different initiatives to improve the physical, cultural and social connection between downtown Macon and the historic neighborhoods MAKE YOUR PLACE IN THE COLLEGE HILL CORRIDOR surrounding Mercer University. It has truly helped to make Macon a city on the move. "One of the reasons College Hill has seen so much success is that we have had a great roadmap – the College Hill Corridor Master Plan," said Heather Bowman Cutway, co-chair of the College Hill Corridor Commission. "However, it was apparent after five years of hard work that we needed a new master plan to keep the momentum going." To implement the new College Hill Corridor Master Plan, the Commission has created task forces of additional volunteers to lead the efforts to continue and sustain the success of the Corridor. Each task force group tackles a different portion of the Master Plan that they are passionate about. The Master Plan is broken up into seven different themes: The Basics, The Vibe, The Connection, The Environment, The Look, The Strong and The Biz. The Strong and The Biz are the two newest additions to the Master Plan that were created out of interest from the latest group of public meetings to update the accomplishments and remaining goals in the Corridor. The Strong seeks to promote the overall well-being of people and encourage a healthy community. The Biz focuses on creating jobs that lead to talent retention and a culture of entrepreneurship. These two task forces have tossed around ideas ranging from installing quarter-mile markers to promote physical fitness to creating a database for small businesses to post internships and jobs accessible to students. The Environment and The Vibe are the other two task forces that have recently met. The Environment focuses on Macon's original founding plan to be a city within a park. The Vibe focuses on the cultural offerings. Many ideas and events came up during The Vibe The College Hill Alliance is a grant function of Mercer University, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and is responsible for fostering neighborhood revitalization in Macon's historic College Hill Corridor, a two-square mile area between Mercer University and Macon's downtown business district. The Alliance's efforts focus on business recruitment and retention, lifestyle enhancement and catalyzing commercial and residential real estate development that strengthen the historic character of College Hill. Progress to date includes updates to Tattnall Square Park, the rise and success of the Second Sunday Concerts, emergence of the Beall's Hill neighborhood, and soon-to- be-completed construction on College Street, among others. Many of these improvements have been made possible by the Knight Neighborhood Challenge grants. Since 2009, these community-driven grants have funded innovative ideas to transform the community. Community members have been fueling this momentum by applying for grants that cater to their passions. The last round of the Knight Neighborhood Challenge grants is coming up on June 30th. 66 l MACON MAGAZINE JUNE/JULY 2014