|
Greetings!
We are continuing to prepare for the 2012 DCI Annual Conference, Design, Develop & Deliver: Partnerships for Shaping Vital Downtowns. Have you registered yet? Early-Bird registration is open through July 13.
This year's Governor's Awards For Downtown Excellence gives your community the perfect opportunity to show off the great work you've accomplished! Categories include: - Best Adaptive Reuse or Rehabilitation
- Best New Construction or Infill Development
- Best Public Space Project
- Best Tax Increment Financing Downtown Project
- Best Promotional Event
- Best Downtown Management Program
- Best Façade Program
- Best Sustainable Downtown Project
- Downtowner of the Year
Visit the Governor's Award page for details about each category, and how to submit your nomination. Get your nominations in now, the deadline to submit is June 29!
Cheers! 
Katherine Correll |
Creating "New Money" Through Culinary Tourism
|
 Erik Wolf is recognized internationally as the founder of the culinary tourism industry and president of the International Culinary Tourism Association.
Imagine that you're a visitor who just arrived at the Denver airport. Its morning and you feel like a coffee so you stop at a 7-11. For breakfast you'd really like a plate of farm-fresh eggs, ham and toast, but you can't find any local restaurants so an Egg McMuffin at McDonald's it is. Has convenience made it too easy to forget local food businesses?
Local foodservice businesses have a hard time competing against bigger companies. Consequently, many are closing. The reasons for struggle are many. A weak economy and layoffs mean that low-margin food establishments can hardly survive.
Apart from the Denver-Boulder area, the state's population is spread-out. Foodservice businesses need a steady volume of customers to survive. None of us have to think hard to recall a restaurant, wine shop, gourmet store or other food-related business that has recently closed.
The real threat is to Colorado's local economies. Franchises and chains export most profits to the company's headquarters. The profit leaves Colorado and less money stays local in towns like Durango, Pueblo and Ft. Collins. Tourism research has proven many times that new money spent in a town is recirculated approximately 7 times before it's considered "old money". New money allows a local economy to grow because jobs are created and services can be bought. Old money keeps circulating in the same local economy and becomes stagnant. The lack of fresh cash means an economy can't grow.
READ MORE
Visit www.culinarytourism.org for more information about culinary travel or to get involved with the International Culinary Tourism Association.
|
Gear Up for Colorado's Bike to Work Day
| T he Denver Regional Council of Government brings together city and county governments and other interested groups in the metro area each year to plan Bike to Work Day as a way of raising awareness of bicycle commuting. This year, Bike to Work day is June 27.
Thousands of Denver-area commuters are already committed to leaving their cars at home that day. Individual registration opened May 7 at www.biketowork2012.org. Participants from prior years need only log on and confirm all their information remains the same if they're still biking to and from the same locations, or edit that information if they've moved homes or jobs. New participants should go to the site and follow the steps to create a login and provide some simple information.
The Bike to Work Day site offers a map of stations throughout the region that will offer refreshments the day of the event, resources for route planning, safety tips, information about group rides, t-shirt ordering, and more. The annual event supports and promotes bicycling as a commute choice among workers who might otherwise
choose to drive alone to work, in the hopes that once they try bicycling, it may become a regular part of the daily routine.
Bike to Work Day is held in Colorado in June, the month after the national Bike to Work Day celebration, due to unpredictable May weather. The Denver area event is organized by the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) with the assistance of a team of stakeholders, and is supported by KUSA/9News, Encana
Natural Gas, RTD, Comcast, Craig Hospital, Noodles & Company, b-Cycle, goodnessKnows, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, CDOT, REI, Colorado Athletic Clubs, Westword, Chipotle, and the American Lung Association in Colorado.
The council of governments is a nonprofit collaborative association of 56 county and municipal governments in the Denver region working together to make life better.
|
|
Profile: Economic Development Council of Colorado
| |
Over the next few months, DCI will be featuring a short profile on various Colorado partner organizations and agencies that can help support you in your community revitalization work.
 The Economic Development Council of Colorado (EDCC) is a state-wide, nonprofit organization dedicated to successful, responsible economic development. EDCC professionally represents the collective economic development interests of both the private and public sectors. Our mission is to strategically retain, expand and attract primary employers.
The members of EDCC are diverse in make-up, but identical in mission: to ensure Colorado and its communities, counties and regions succeed in the core business of economic development...quality primary job creation. Our members are rural and urban, public and private, for profit and not-for-profit, individual communities, counties and regional groups. They are economic development professionals, community volunteers, business leaders, and politicians.
EDCC is committed to:
- An equitable, balanced, public/private partnership
- Growing the economic climate of Colorado to the mutual benefit of employees, employers, governments and citizens
If you understand the value of economic development, support our efforts, or simply want to be involved, consider joining Colorado's economic development leaders...the Economic Development Council of Colorado!
For more information, please visit the website at www.edcconline.org.
|
|
|
DCI is an equal opportunity employer. DCI employs personnel without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental handicap, veteran status and marital status. |
|
|
2012 DCI
Calendar | |
Save the Date!
|
Jobs & RFPs E-Notice
| Let us help you get the word out to our huge network!
Submit all job openings and RFPs by next Monday, June 18, to ensure your notice will be included.
|
| Our Sponsors | |
Thank You to Our Patron, District Partner, and Main Street Supporter Sponsors!
Interested in DCI sponsorship? Download our sponsorship brochure now! Or contact DCI at 303.282.0625.
|
| Save 30% on E-Marketing Tools! |
DCI members receive a 30% discount on Constant Contact services if you sign up through DCI!
|
| Join Us On | |
|
|
|
