Happy New Year, one and all! After the hustle and bustle (and bronchitis) of the holidays I, for one, am happy to be back at my desk. The Virginia Main Street staff is in full-on planning mode for 2017. We are finalizing arrangements for the Directors’ Retreat in Lexington later this month, setting a date for a design oriented webinar with Frazier Associates for this spring, and working with potential key note speakers for Downtown Intersections this July in Winchester – just to name a few!

But before I was even back at my desk; before I was knee deep in calendars and travel plans and National Main Street services, I was thinking about New Year’s Resolutions and Virginia Main Street. As a planner and as someone who loves making to-do lists I get excited for resolutions every year. I can’t say that I’m always successful, but it is said that making your resolutions public is one way of ensuring accountability. So, here we go.

 

I, Rebecca Rowe, Virginia Main Street state coordinator, resolve to

1. Visit each and every designated VMS community this calendar year, meeting with the directors, board members and local partners.
2. Provide training and assistance on fundraising, leadership, work planning for outcomes, and working with developers for our communities and partners.
3. Take at least two (2) mini vacations incorporating at least four (4) VMS communities.

When I put the question of resolutions to the rest of the VMS super-staff, these were their responses.

Joy Rumley resolves to

1. Attend/participate in an event in each of her designated communities, supporting them with her time and money.
2. Assist VMS communities in developing and implementing their Transformation Strategies, with a focus on qualitative and quantitative impacts.
3. Introduce Transformation Strategies to Affiliate communities who are ready to pursue more focused, strategic work.

 

Kyle Meyer will

1. Help the programs build strong, ongoing community relationships for inclusiveness and applying a collective vision for the benefit of the community.
2. Make the Main Street methodology a widespread, “go-to” strategy for downtown revitalization.
   
3. Make doing Main Street fun!

 

And Tory McGowan

1. Seconds Joy’s resolutions on  Transformation Strategies creation and implementation as well as event attendance.
2. Will increase his annual gift purchase from VMS communities, shopping “local.”
3. Will work with communities on diversifying their funding streams to create more sustainable organizations and operations.

What are your 2017 Virginia Main Street resolutions?