Downtown Bellingham Partnership

Community outreach: the dbp administers several programs for the promotion of Downtown Bellingham and as a means to support small business development. These programs include quarterly Downtown neighborhood Association meetings, safety, and other related resource sharing. The city block program allows staff and business owners more direct access to each other, helping to shape the dbp focal points. The dbp also supports addressing safety concerns that have arisen in Downtown by contracting with the city for the safety ambassador program, allowing a team of ambassadors to walk Downtown and work directly with folks who are experiencing mental health crisises. These programs are funded in part by contracts with the city of Bellingham's planning and community development department and through corporate donations through the main street tax credit incentive program.

Ongoing dbp events are meant to drive traffic and create a vibrant Downtown. These include an art walk and monthly first fridays, a concert series called Downtown sounds, two wine walks per year, trick-or-treat and holiday season events and displays.

Beautification & cleaning: the dbp is contracted by the city of Bellingham to provide landscaping services to Downtown. The goal of this program is to create a safer and cleaner city center, including seasonal planting, weeding and leaf removal. The clean team is also responsible for litter clean up from the public right of ways, and organizes 1-2 volunteer events a year for large scale clean up efforts. The dpp managed a graffiti abatement program where graffiti was removed from private buildings, and was funding through the city of Bellingham's planning and community development department, Bellingham police department and public works.