The City of Toronto’s Main Street Innovation Fund provides grant funding for innovative and creative solutions to Toronto’s main street business challenges. The mandate is to support local business communities’ recovery and rebuild through innovative activations, creative place makings, and community capacity building initiatives. Applicants must have working relations with their local business community and propose projects that will increase main street vibrancy. The fund encourages innovation and allows for unique projects to be piloted in various neighbourhoods throughout the city of Toronto. This program is funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario .
The Main Street Innovation Fund is a grant that provides funding to Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) and not-for-profit organizations with ties to the business community to test innovative and creative solutions to local challenges and share their findings/results with others in the city of Toronto. The program goals are to:
Uma Nota Culture transformed a simple shipping container parked on the street into Art Vessel – a colourful, new studio and exhibition space where local artists can take part in residencies and be paid to show their creative work.
Scarborough Arts and Eat More Scarborough worked with many partners to develop the Culinary Everywhere! Tour Guide Training which brought five unique tours to Toronto’s East End and supported 20 local restaurants. Read more.
This program offers $25,000 and $50,000 grants for projects that meet the eligibility requirements. Funding of up to $100,000 is available for projects that meet Legacy Project criteria.
The Main Street Innovation Fund is available to the following organizations:
Please note: For profit businesses including sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations are not eligible to apply.
The Main Street Innovation Fund encourages projects within a wide scope of parameters such as:
In addition to the program eligibility requirements, applications for Legacy Project funding must exhibit all the following criteria:
The following types of projects do not qualify for funding under this program:
Applications are currently closed.
For questions about the Main Street Innovation Fund, please email the Main Street Innovation Fund project manager at mif@toronto.ca.
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