Downtown Greensboro Inc. is bringing back an organization meant to give people who actually live downtown a greater voice in what happens there – and these days they certainly won’t be short of things to talk about.

DGI announced on Monday, Aug. 17, that it has revived a downtown residents organization under the new name Downtown Neighborhood Association, or DNA.

The group held its first meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 12, and plans to meet every other month. The new organization is loosely modeled on the former Downtown Residents Association, which disbanded several years ago.

DGI will provide resources and help facilitate the new association; however, organization officials say residents themselves will largely determine what DNA becomes and what issues it takes on.

Interim DGI Executive Director Rob Overman said this week, “We’re excited to provide the resources to revive this community-driven organization, connect our downtown residents and learn from their unique experience of living in our center city.”

He said establishing a stronger residential community will be particularly important if downtown leaders hope to meet their long-range growth goals.

“One of the goals of the GSO35 strategy is to increase the downtown population by 5,000 new residents over the next decade,” Overman said. “To accomplish that, we must cultivate a strong resident community and let their experiences guide how downtown grows.”

That resident perspective could become increasingly important because downtown Greensboro is simultaneously going through a period of major investment and some serious growing pains.

For much of 2026, downtown business owners and residents have publicly complained about homelessness, safety concerns, parking problems, construction disruptions, vandalism and declining customer traffic. Those complaints became so pronounced earlier this year that residents and business owners took them directly to the Greensboro City Council. Several longtime downtown businesses have also closed, including M’Coul’s Public House, Dame’s Chicken & Waffles and Liberty Oak.

Parking has been one of the most persistent complaints.

The city says there are more than 4,400 public parking spaces in city-owned decks, lots and on-street spaces downtown – but the location and convenience of those spaces have become a major issue as construction projects, parking deck changes and street work have altered where people can park.

Several previously free city surface lots also began charging for weekday parking this year, which produced another round of complaints from downtown businesses and customers.

In response, the city expanded free parking hours earlier this year, with city-owned surface lots and on-street parking becoming free after 5 p.m. on weekdays and remaining free on weekends.

The privately owned Davie Street parking deck was also demolished this year to make way for a planned 171-unit apartment development – a project that should ultimately add more residents downtown but removed a large supply of centrally located parking in the meantime.

Homelessness has remained another major concern.

The city has expanded homeless outreach and housing programs and this summer has repeatedly opened cooling facilities during extreme heat. It has also established a formal system for reporting homeless encampments.

At the same time, business owners and residents have complained for years about aggressive panhandling, encampments, vandalism and other activity associated with some of the homeless population downtown.

DGI itself acknowledged some of the strain in May of this year when it created an Emergency Stabilization Fund that can reimburse qualifying downtown businesses for expenses associated with vandalism, broken windows, forced entry, graffiti and similar unexpected damage.

DGI officials say that each meeting of the association will include both an informational portion addressing issues that affect downtown residents and a social component intended to help neighbors get to know each other.

At the Aug. 12 inaugural meeting, residents discussed how they want the group to operate, established some initial goals and talked about both opportunities and problems associated with downtown living.

Sabrina Jones, who’s lived downtown for more than a decade, said of the new association, “I’m excited about the opportunity to build a stronger network of neighbors and to lend our collective voice to the issues that matter for downtown residents.”

The Downtown Neighborhood Association will meet every other month, with its next regular meeting scheduled for October.

DGI also plans to hold workshops and social events during the months between meetings.

Downtown residents interested in joining the association can get more information at downtowngreensboro.org under the Downtown Neighborhood Association page.

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