Our hearts are deeply connected to our communities, so we want to be part of the decisions that impact our community’s future. They can affect our quality of life, job opportunities, public health and most of all, our families. But, how do we become part of that decision making, a real participant that impacts direction? … More Create a Stronger, More Cohesive Community
Why should an entrepreneur choose your downtown for a new location? Selling your community to prospective entrepreneurs is challenging without the information they need to make location decisions. Throughout the last few years, Kansas’ Emporia Main Street refined an attractive and easily updateable business investment guide to help make the choice that much easier. The guide sells … More Make Your Downtown an Easy Target for New Business
The National Main Street Center publishes a Main Street Story of the Week each week. These articles share information, tips and advice from experts around the country. In one of the recently posted articles “Revisit Your Community’s Unique Assets: Connecting Asset-Based Economic Development to Community Transformation Strategies,” the author discusses leveraging unique, local assets to achieve economic … More Revisit Your Community’s Unique Assets
When we talk about entrepreneurship, so often artists can be left out of the conversation. The Staunton Creative Community Fund (Staunton Fund) has been examining entrepreneurship through the lens of artists. Wrapping up the spring with a Bach n’ Roll Roundtable, the Staunton Fund brought together stakeholders to talk about needs and ideas for growing … More Give your local artists the business tools for success
In early July 2016, ground was broken in downtown St. Paul for a long-awaited $7.3 million boutique hotel that will be called the Western Front Hotel. This project is a result of the hard work and drive of local leaders to take revitalization of downtown St. Paul into their own hands, embracing a community-initiated development … More Homegrown Hospitality Development in Downtown St. Paul
How can your local Main Street program better use limited resources to create vibrant, people-centered places? The Main Street Approach has been a successful model for older commercial district revitalization for more than 35 years and is used to revitalize and manage downtowns in more than 2,000 communities across the U.S. The Four Point approach offers … More Three Steps to Refresh Your Main Street Strategies for Visible Results
Is your downtown ready for new businesses and residential investment? In order to meet new challenges and ensure a strong Main Street, communities need ongoing training. Whether the community is just getting started with Main Street activities or well-seasoned in managing a prosperous commercial district, staff and volunteers need different skills in different phases of … More Three Upcoming Opportunities to Rev up Your Downtown Revitalization Efforts
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