Love The Ave Teams Up with the Congress for the New Urbanism

At the heart of every thriving city is a network of partnerships—collaborations that bring together visionaries, experts, and residents to create vibrant, walkable, and economically strong neighborhoods. In New Bedford, we know that meaningful progress happens when organizations, businesses, and communities come together with a shared purpose. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership that will help shape the future of The Ave and its surrounding areas.

This March, the Love The Ave New Bedford TDI District will partner with the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) to bring national urban design experts to the City of New Bedford through the Legacy Project initiative. This collaboration will help us reimagine our public spaces, improve neighborhood connectivity, and strengthen the district’s identity through a three-day community design charrette from March 17-19.

The Love The Ave District was chosen for this prestigious opportunity when the City of New Bedford’s Office of City Planning successfully submitted an application for the Legacy Project initiative. The project will be led by expert design teams from Arup and Street Plans.

What is the Congress for the New Urbanism?

The CNU is a national organization dedicated to championing human-scaled urban design and development. Their mission focuses on creating livable, sustainable neighborhoods that prioritize walkability, connectivity, and economic vibrancy over the car-centric, low-density development model of suburban sprawl.

CNU’s Legacy Projects offer communities the opportunity to engage directly with expert urban designers and planners. These projects are aimed at addressing critical local planning and design challenges, engaging residents in shaping the future of their neighborhoods, and fostering investment in public spaces and cultural assets.

Community Engagement: Shaping the Future of The Ave

The Love The Ave District Legacy Project will focus on revitalizing this historic commercial corridor and its surrounding areas. Through public design workshops and interactive discussions, residents and stakeholders will have the chance to contribute ideas and feedback on how best to transform The Ave into a more connected, economically vibrant, and safe district.

The three-day charrette will take place at Our Lady of Angels Band & Cultural Center (1446 Acushnet Avenue):

• Monday, March 17 – Targeted stakeholder discussions with business owners, residents, city councilors, and other key groups. A community open house begins at 5:30 p.m. to gather public input.
• Tuesday, March 18 – A mid-day open house beginning at 1:00 p.m., allowing anyone to drop in and discuss the project with the design team.
• Wednesday, March 19 – Presentation of findings at 5:30 p.m., with an opportunity for final community feedback.

Key Goals for the Legacy Project

The Love The Ave District Legacy Project will focus on several critical areas of improvement, including:

• Streetscape Enhancements: Envisioning design improvements for the “missing teeth” section of The Ave from Holly Street to Nye Street, reconnecting it to the denser areas north of Bullard Street.
• Strengthening Connections to the Acushnet River: Enhancing the visibility and accessibility of Riverside Park, just two blocks from The Ave, by improving key side street corridors.
• Activating Underutilized Areas: Identifying opportunities for redevelopment at both ends of Riverside Park—on the south side, where an EPA staging area will soon be available for city use, and on the north side, where Coffin Avenue has several vacant parcels with redevelopment potential.
• Synthesizing Past and Present Ideas: Revisiting past urban planning reports and studies to modernize recommendations and align them with current best practices, ensuring that future grant applications and funding opportunities are based on updated and actionable plans.

You’re invited!

This initiative is part of the larger lead-up to CNU’s 2025 Annual Congress, which will take place in Providence, RI from June 11-14, 2025. 

Since 2014, CNU’s Legacy Projects have provided pro bono design services to help communities implement New Urbanist principles, making neighborhoods more dynamic, accessible, and prosperous. By working together, we can continue the transformation of The Ave into a thriving hub that reflects the needs and aspirations of its residents.

Join us in shaping the future of The Ave—your voice, ideas, and energy are what make our community strong. We look forward to seeing you at the charette sessions in March!

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Strengthening New Bedford’s Food Businesses:

TDI Technical Assistance Program in Full Swing

The TDI Technical Assistance (TA) program, a MassDevelopment initiative, is making a real impact on New Bedford’s food businesses! In collaboration with House Doctor MANKA, a team of professional consultants working with MassDevelopment, the program is providing tailored support to help small business owners navigate challenges and grow stronger. (House Doctors are specially contracted consultants recruited by MassDevelopment for an array of specific tasks.)

Recently, participants in the TA program, along with the TDI Small Business Subcommittee, had the opportunity to meet virtually with the full MANKA team before welcoming them for an in-depth, full-day site visit in New Bedford.

From 10 AM to 8 PM, three MANKA team members conducted one-on-one assessments with each of the 14 participating businesses, gaining firsthand insights into their unique challenges and opportunities. It was an exciting and meaningful experience and demonstrative as to how this program is providing critical support during difficult times.

Many participants reported declining revenues, forcing them to reduce hours and adjust operations. However, hope is on the horizon. Madelyn Pineda, owner of Casa Lempira, expressed her gratitude, sharing that this initiative is giving her renewed optimism for the future. She and her business were recently featured in this WBUR report, which chronicles how the fear of ICE raids are having an extremely detrimental impact on immigrant-owned businesses along The Ave. 

The MANKA team described the visit as highly productive and insightful. They are now preparing customized recommendations focused on key business priorities, including:

Financial Literacy & Planning – Sales forecasting, labor cost management, and cash flow strategies
Marketing & Branding – Storytelling, mission alignment, and customer engagement strategies
Operations & Logistics – Kitchen systems optimization, workflow tools (POS systems), and staffing efficiency
Menu & Recipe Development – Costing strategies, design improvements, and product positioning

Through a combination of workshops and one-on-one support, this MassDevelopment program brought to the city by the New Bedford TDI Partnership is equipping business owners with the tools they need to strengthen their businesses and thrive.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue supporting New Bedford’s food entrepreneurs!

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Calling all entrepreneurs

And finally, while we’re on the subject of business development, it’s a good opportunity to share the news that Love The Ave partners EforAll SouthCoast is now accepting applications for its Summer 2025 accelerator program. 

The EforAll Accelerator Program is a free, 12-week program offered twice a year. This program offers a unique combination of immersive business training, mentorship, and access to an extended professional network. Anyone with a dream to start or grow a business or nonprofit is encouraged to apply! Visit their website for more information. 

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– The New Bedford TDI District is a diverse and vibrant neighborhood in the central economic corridor of the city’s North End. This distinct neighborhood is characterized by its linear commercial spine of small business storefronts on the ground level of one- and two-story tenement structures along with ethnic restaurants, cafes, bakeries, churches, and social clubs. The supporting dense neighborhood is comprised primarily of multifamily housing for legacy Portuguese-descent residents and Latino, Hispanic, and Central American immigrant populations. At the forefront of priorities for the New Bedford TDI Partnership is place-based economic development that focuses on small-business development, entrepreneurship, and public realm improvements with an arts-and-culture-based approach. Adelsa Mendes is the TDI fellow for the New Bedford TDI District. You can reach her at [email protected]