Covington Business Council

History :
The Covington Business Council (CBC) was founded in 1979, but was originally known as the Covington Urban Redevelopment Effort (CURE). CURE was  started in 1972 by Ralph Haile Jr., President of Peoples-Liberty Bank & Trust Co. (currently US Bank at 606 Madison, Covington). In April 1972, 16 volunteers hosted a public forum where they announced their ideas for the future of Covington. In 1979, the organization had begun to accept memberships and changed their name from CURE to ACT for Covington. ACT became a successful partnership between the Covington Business Men’s Association, the neighborhood residential groups, the City of Covington and interested citizens.

From 1979-1989, ACT changed from focusing efforts on marketing the downtown, to redevelopment. Although critics believed ACT’s new "think tank" process took them away from the "hands on" approach with downtown Covington businesses, the group persevered and made an even greater impact within that decade.

In 1990, the organization officially became the Covington Business Council, having grown its membership base to nearly 150 members from the original 16. From 1989-1999, CBC was instrumental in advocating for several successful projects: Grassroots lobbying efforts for the Northern Kentucky Regional Convention Center, proposed improvement to Twelfth Street and the location of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Covington produced direct results. The Clean Team, Vision Task Force, funding the Covington Bike Patrol, and creating the Prostitution Solution Committee not only cleaned up Covington Streets, but provided a long term solution to revitalizing the downtown. With the creation of the CBC Foundation and Southbank, additional projects continue to take shape. Beautification of the Fifth Street exit ramp is one of the more visible projects, which has been accomplished due to support from the CBC Foundation with more visible projects planned for the near future. The CBC Foundation initiated a campaign to assist businesses affected by the Odd Fellows fire in the Spring of 2002.