Building a small manufacturing movement in your community? Empowering your local makers and producers? Join us for the fall Rev Up virtual workshop!
Small-scale producers, or maker businesses, are defined as all types of small businesses producing tangible goods. This includes businesses producing goods in textile, hardware, wood, metal, 3D printing, and food, not to mention consumer product design, breweries and distilleries, and local food production and packaging.
“Small scale producers are key to strengthening local and state economies. These types of producers create jobs, drive tourism and foster businesses that spur long-term growth within a community.”
Matthew Wagner, Ph.D.
Vice President of Revitalization Programs at the National Main Street Center
Rev Up Downtown Business Resiliency: Pivoting with Small-scale Production Post-COVID
October 20, 2020
9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The COVID pandemic introduced a convergence of trends that will have lasting impacts on downtown’s business mix and opportunities to address vacancies. At the intersection of those trends lay anticipated changes in the use and function of our downtowns.
Small-scale manufacturing is poised to accelerate as a powerful opportunity to cultivate entrepreneurship; consumer desire to counter convenience with experience and uniqueness; and changes in downtown occupancy from displaced restaurants and office users.
Join us for this interactive, virtual workshop to explore:
- Trends associated with small-scale production
- How to build district resiliency with small-scale production
- Lessons learned and themes from the Virginia Main Street Small-scale Production Pilot
- How to align local resources and activities to cultivate this business segment
- Tools and resources to assess your small-scale support system
Speaker:
Matt Wagner
Vice President of Revitalization Programs
National Main Street Center
mwagner@savingplaces.org
Matt Wagner has more than 20 years of nonprofit management experience in downtown development, entrepreneurship and tech-based economic development. At the National Main Street Center, Wagner is leading the launch of the renewed and re-imagined Four Point Approach, as well as helping the center reach new communities with this refreshed framework. Overseeing the field services team, Wagner also leads the center’s efforts to expand technical service offerings and offer preservation-based economic development services directly to communities. Wagner received his Ph.D. in urban affairs, with specialization in urban economic development, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
virginiamainstreet.com 