Save the Date for Missouri's 6th Annual "Get Plugged In...Downtown"

Join us in St. Louis July 29-31, 2014, for Missouri's Premier Revitalization Conference, "Get Plugged In...Downtown."

This conference will bring practical ideas and solutions for preservation based revitalization that is relevant to rural, mid-sized and urban communities.

Make new connections during the numerous networking opportunities offered. Get new tools to keep your downtown vibrant and competitive in today's market. Attend sessions geared for "Inspiring People, Leveraging Partnerships, and Strengthening Communities."  

Online registration will be open soon. For additional information about "Get Plugged In...Downtown" or for Sponsorship and/or Exhibitor opportunities, visit the conference website: www.getpluggedindowntown.org. 

Six Missouri Main Street® Programs Achieve Accredited Status

Attaining Accreditation from the National Main Street Program gives bragging rights to six communities in Missouri - Cape Girardeau, Chillicothe, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Warrensburg and Washington. This is the highest level of recognition a community can receive through the Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC), and it confers the honor of both National and State Accreditation. 

To receive National and State Accredited status a community must reach the Main Street criteria standards each year and must have successfully completed the services provided by MMSC to the Selected Level Communities. 

Offering congratulations to the Accredited communities for their achievement were Gayla Roten, State Director of MMSC, and Norma Ramirez de Miess, Senior Program Officer of the National Trust Main Street Center. 

Following the Accreditation reviews, Ms. Miess said, "We are pleased to see how the communities have proactively addressed planning, building partnerships with their City and other civic groups, and continued to expand their leadership base to be effective instruments for implementing comprehensive revitalization strategies." 

The Missouri Main Street program's purpose is to create vibrant communities across the State. This effort is based on numerous recent studies showing that empowering individuals to develop their downtown motivates high achievement, where people will want to live, work and invest, making our State economically stronger. The goal of the Main Street Center and Missouri Main Street program is to encourage preservation-based economic development through the Four-Point Approach®. All of the Accredited communities use this strategy for downtown revitalization:

Organization: Working toward the same goal and assembling the appropriate human and financial resources to implement a Main Street revitalization program. 

Promotion: Creating a positive image of the commercial district and encouraging consumers and investors to live, work, shop, play and invest in the Main Street district. 

Design: Putting Main Street into top physical shape. Capitalizing on its best assets, such as historic buildings and pedestrian-oriented streets is just part of the story. 

Economic Restructuring: Strengthening the community's existing economic assets while expanding and diversifying its economic base. 

Missouri Main Street Connection provides communities with the tools needed to develop into thriving downtowns. "These tools can be used to create jobs and build a sense of place that not only provides for current Missouri residents, but makes our communities more attractive to new residents and generations to come," said Ms. Roten. 

Communities selected for the Accreditation review are evaluated using the annual evaluation process and accreditation criteria intended to assist each community in performing up to national accreditation standards, as prescribed by the National Main Street Center. Though it is a critical moment for a Missouri Main Street community to become Accredited, it is equally important for the community to maintain the Accreditation status once it has been earned. 

Missouri Main Street's mission is to enhance the social, cultural and environmental well being of historic downtown business districts located in Missouri's diverse cities and towns, through education using the Main Street Four-Point Approach® to Revitalization, as developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The mission is based on the principle that America's historic commercial districts are a valuable asset that is worth preserving, and that they can contribute to the total economic vitality of their communities. 

Associates are other Main Street programs utilizing the Main Street Four-Point Approach® to Revitalization and are meeting most of the Accreditation standards. These are Clinton, Excelsior Springs and Sedalia. 

At the next level of accomplishment are 25 Affiliate communities, which are in the initial phase of a revitalization program using the Main Street Four-Point Approach®. They are: Appleton City, Ash Grove, Belton, Blue Springs, Cabool, Cassville, Concordia, Glasgow, Lamar, Monett, Peculiar Arts & Culture District, Raytown, Seymour and Ste. Genevieve. Other Affiliates are in the Main Street matching grant program: Bolivar, California, Canton, Drexel, Fayette, Grandview, Holden, Kearney, Lexington, Marceline, and the Vine Street District in Kansas City. 

For additional information about the levels of achievement in the Missouri Main Street program, contact Gayla Roten, 417.334.3014, or visit the website at www.momainstreet.org.