Small businesses are the key to community success-  At Main Street, we have been preaching this for years, but more data continues to support this fact.  85% of all jobs in Kansas exist in businesses with 20 or fewer employees.  Great job growth numbers recently came out on a federal level, and 70% of the new jobs created were in small businesses.  For our economy to recover, and our nation to prosper, we need to focus on small businesses.  While other nations have been recognized for their efficiency or cheap labor sources, the United States has always competed on the basis of ingenuity.  Small businesses, by their very nature, compete through creativity and hard work.  They aren't "too big to fail", but they are just the right size to help us succeed.

Customer perceptions concerning the economic health and viability of an area are tied to aesthetics now more than ever before.  I've had conversations with individuals that wonder why we work on trees, host trash pick ups, coordinate fantastic volunteers that beautify gardens, encourage good design habits in buildings and promote preservation/maintenance...  Well, it's because consumers identify metal buildings and lack of design aesthetics with depressed economics.  Because of that perception, people are willing to spend less, stop less and hang out less in areas that aren't aesthetically pleasing.  Downtown Parsons Design Committee can help with creating a more attractive community, but we must create other avenues to achieve a more visually pleasing community.

People want "hang outs".  Green spaces, water parks, WiFi hot spots, outdoor festivals, live music, walkable environments and bike trails are all important aspects when creating denser communities.  As we look forward 20 years in our community planning, it is absolutely clear that most communities must create dense mixed use facilities that are pedestrian and bike friendly that utilize access to public transportation.  Oil production should hit its peak within the next 10 years, while oil demand from nation states like China will rapidly increase.  Our transportation models, business models and social models will change rapidly as our access to energy changes.

Communities must take charge of their own futures by becoming business owners, developers and investors. Becoming pro-active in developing a better community now includes incubating a business, starting a community owned store/restaurant or becoming a developer to facilitate the types of buildings or upper story development needed to move a community forward.  "Networking" or "facilitating" won't be good enough in the new economy.  Communities must be willing to get their hands dirty, flex their muscles, pool their resources with local investors and fill market leakages. 

Funding is key.  Most entrepreneurs aren't wealthy, and our financial institutions have been put into some tough situations because of regulations stemming from the behavior of a few larger institutions.  We, as a Main Street and as a community, must find alternative funding sources that help our financial institutions and entrepreneurs bridge the funding gap and produce viable businesses.  Incentives Without Walls funding and Network Kansas funding have done well, but we must seek additional funds, tax credits and other vehicles to improve the viability of our businesses.