This article shows how Charlotte, North Carolina, strongly supports its inner-city neighborhoods with a Neighborhood Improvement Program. For several decades, most large North American localities have suffered inner-city decline, primarily because of rapid growth and urban sprawl. Charlotte, North Carolina, has not been excluded from the effects of urban sprawl and its impacts on central-core neighborhoods. In 1996, in partial response to this trend, Charlotte's city manager recommended $32 million in neighborhood improvement bonds. Later, these bonds were approved by 70 percent of the voters.