The Cumberland Community Improvement District (CID), Georgia’s first CID, was formed in 1988 by business leaders interested in improving access to the highways for Atlanta’s emerging northwest market, known as Cumberland.
Soon after its formation, the Cumberland CID’s single wish evolved into a master road plan for the area. Over the years, that original plan expanded to include additional road and transit infrastructure improvements, streetscapes and beautification projects, bicycle and walking trails, alternate commute programs and services and community planning.
Key Facts About the Area’s Impact:
- While only 5.5 square miles, the CID is home to more than 65,000 full-time jobs, which represents 1.7 percent of Georgia’s total jobs.
- The economic impact of jobs within the CID is $7.2 billion, or 2.2 percent of Georgia’s total labor income.
- That means the CID’s economic output per employee is three times higher than the state average.
- Geographically encompassing 1.6 percent of Cobb County, the CID represents 21 percent of the jobs in the County.
- The Cumberland area’s economic impact on the state of Georgia is
$21.2 billion – 5 percent of Georgia’s economy.
CID Strategy
Rather than funding new roads, sidewalks, and other transportation projects in their entirety, the CID prefers to leverage its money by funding preliminary engineering and design. When construction money becomes available from the state or county, the advanced CID projects are ready to go. This saves the CID and the municipalities time and money and accelerates important community projects.
Thanks to its foresight and effective public-private partnership with its government partners, to date the CID has already leveraged about $600 million in projects that benefit the community every day. By 2018, the Cumberland CID will have committed more than $130 million and leveraged that into billions in road and infrastructure improvements.
The projects created by this investment are chosen, designed and constructed with the business community in mind, making the area more accessible and more appealing for businesses, employees, residents and consumers.
