CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – A lot of money is headed to Charlotte to help the city become more inclusive and build its economic mobility.

The Knight Foundation recently announced its awarding $1.2 million in grants. The money will support eight different innovative projects in the city.

There’s a lot of history buried at the Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery in Charlotte. Michael Zytkow knows a thing or two about it because it’s all connected to something bigger. He says it was once a segregated cemetery.

The cemetery is a part of the Urban Arboretum Trail, a program that will create more open spaces in urban areas that preserve Charlotte’s tree canopy. 

Last year, the city reached out to Zytkow to have him create an app for people to use once the trail is officially completed. 

“You could potentially use your phone or tablet to learn about who's buried in these areas, learn about history and also honor the dead in the process,” he said. 

Building an app isn’t cheap. Recently, Zytkow found out the city was awarded $60,000 to help create it. 

“The funds are key and instrumental in us to be able to bring these experiences to life,” he said. 

Charles Thomas is the foundation’s program director and says this money is all about helping Charlotte become a smart city. 

“When you think about smart cities, it’s not just about having a bunch of cameras and monitoring systems that a city has, but it’s like think about what happened during the pandemic,” he said. “You were no longer going to city council meetings you were watching them on Zoom.” 

Zytkow brought kids to the cemetery to help them learn about gaming and augmented reality that will ultimately tie back into his app. 

“I think it's critical to get young people involved in the process, and also ensuring that the young people that are involved are those who come from this specific community,” he said. 

Zytkow has a while before his app will be ready, but once it's finished, it will be another important tool that grows Charlotte by using technology. He is also working with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which was awarded grant money to develop another app that will help residents learn more about historic neighborhoods in Charlotte.

Grant recipients and their projects include: 

1. Foundation for the Carolinas ($458K): To support digital literacy efforts for students and parents in Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Central District 1.
2. City of Charlotte, Smart City Fellow ($245K): To support a Smart City Fellow for the city of Charlotte who will lead strategies to bridge the city’s digital divide.
3. University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Immersive Visual Data ($240K): To develop a digital platform that uses visual data to put residents at the center of the decision-making process in the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan. 
4. Johnson C. Smith University ($75K): To help the university’s library create a proof of concept for “A Virtual Sense of Place,” a web-based augmented reality exhibit that tells the story of development in the Historic West End.
5. City of Charlotte, North End Smart District ($60K): To create a phone application that will enhance the visitor experience at the Urban Arboretum Trail.
6. North End Community Coalition ($50K): To support the development of programming and hiring of a community manager at the North End Smart District Tech Center.
7. University of North Carolina Charlotte, Virtual Neighborhood Walk ($48K): To develop virtual walking tours around historic neighborhoods in the city of Charlotte.
8. Queens University of Charlotte ($44K): To help the Knight School of Communication’s Digital Charlotte program with advancing digital inclusion in the North End Smart District.