Missouri Main Street Connection
EARLY SUMMER 2015
In This Issue
Thank You Premier Partners
MMSC Welcomes New Staff
Congratulations to Old Town Cape
Congratulations to Vasterling Suites
Main Street by the Numbers
Michael Donovan Named ED for MAC
Dr. Toni Prawl, New Deputy SHPO for Missouri
Upcoming Events for 2015
Michael Shuman is Keynote for Annual Revitalization Conference
Get Plugged In Early Registration Expires Soon
Miles and Smiles Across the State
Missouri 2030 and Missouri's Main Streets
Warrensburg Sees New Vision for Town Square
Promotions Done Right
Thank you to Our Premier Partners

 

Missouri's Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference is supported in part by these sponsors:

 

Gold Partners

US Bank

Element 74

 

Silver Partners

Thompson Coburn

 

Bronze Partners

Karen Bode Baxter

Commerce Bank

Edward Jones

Foutch Brothers

Marsh & Company

MMSC Excited to Welcome New Staff

 

Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) is excited to announce Katelyn Brotherton has been hired as Executive Assistant to Network Services. 

Originally from Leopold, Missouri, a small town in Southeast Missouri, Katelyn recently graduated summa cum laude, with distinction from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in Historic Preservation.

 

Having always had an appreciation for history as well as travel, especially finding unique destinations, Katelyn shared, "I love Main Street because it allows me to combine these two hobbies." In addition to history and travel, she also enjoys reading, watching movies and shopping for new finds at antique stores.

 

Katelyn spent last summer with MMSC as an intern and demonstrated her dedication and passion for Missouri's downtowns.

 

"We are thrilled that Katelyn has joined our team," said Gayla Roten, MMSC State Director. "She stands out in the crowd with her great smile and enthusiasm for Main Street. We look forward to you meeting her at the State Conference and hope you help us welcome her into the Main Street family."

Congratulations to Old Town Cape, Inc. - 2015 GAMSA Winner

 

Old Town Cape, Inc. - a State and Nationally Accredited Main Street Community - was awarded the Great American Main Street� Community Award during the National Main Streets Conference in Atlanta earlier this year. 

 

Congratulations Old Town Cape!

Congratulations to Vasterling Suites of Cape Girardeau, MO

 

The Vasterling Suites in Cape Girardeau received the 2015 Preserve Missouri Award from Missouri Preservation. Vasterling Suites is a historic hotel that was restored using historic tax credits and renovated into luxury apartments by the local family business Clemco Development. 

 

The Preserve Missouri awards recognize outstanding efforts and projects around the state in categories such as Commercial Revitalization, Institutional/Civic Building Restoration, Neighborhood Revitalization, Residential Rehabilitation, Historic Landscape Preservation, Rural Preservation, and Preservationist-in-Action.

Main Street by the Numbers

 

All across the country, Main Street, or downtown, revitalization generates jobs and reinvestment. The National Main Street Center issued the cumulative impact by revitalized commercial districts taking part in the Main Street program since 1980:

 

$61.7 billion in new investment with a net gain of 528,557 new jobs and 120,510 new businesses. 

 

Every dollar a community uses to support its local Main Street program leverages an average of $26.52 in new investment, making the Main Street program one of this nation's most successful economic development strategies.

Missouri Arts Council Has New Director

 

In February 2015, Michael Donovan was appointed as executive director of the Missouri Arts Council. He has 32 years of experience in arts management as a professional, board member, and volunteer. Department of Economic Development Director, Mike Downing, said that Michael's contributions to the Council have been invaluable and that the Council will continue to deliver critical resources and support to strengthen the arts statewide through his leadership. 

 

"For ten years, I have had the pleasure of being part of an agency that I feel passionate about," Michael said. "I have witnessed how the arts transform lives, schools, and communities. This is an opportunity to leverage our partnerships to strengthen our support of the arts and culture in Missouri."

New Deputy SHPO for Missouri

 

Dr. Toni Prawl was named the new Deputy Historic Preservation Officer for the State of Missouri effective March 4, 2015. 

 

Dr. Prawl was with the Missouri Department of Transportation for over 20 years as an architectural historian. She has a great wealth of knowledge in the field of Historic Preservation. She was instrumental in forming the Missouri Barn Alliance and Rural Network and is a long-time member of Missouri Preservation.

Upcoming Events for 2015

Missouri's Annual Premier Revitalization Conference, "Get Plugged In... Downtown"
July 28-30
Kansas City, MO
The Westin at Crown Center
Three days of educational sessions, in-the-field tours, EXPO, and Evening of Excellence dinner and awards. For conference details and to register online, visit getpluggedindowntown.org.

Main Street Affiliate Grant Workshop
September 2
Warrensburg, MO
10 am to 2 pm
Learn how a 40/60 matching grant can provide your community with on-site training for revitalization.

Missouri Preservation Conference
October 21-23
Cape Girardeau, MO
Preservation topics in classroom sessions and tours. Details will be available soon at preservemo.org.

National Preservation Conference
November 3-6
Washington, DC
Visit the National Trust for Historic Preservation website for conference details.

MMSC Downtown Revitalization Workshop & Directors' Training
November 12-13
Canton, MO
More information will be available soon.
Our Partners in Revitalization
MO DED

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Our Mission

The Mission of the Missouri Main Street Connection is to provide communities with the knowledge and tools to economically and physically revitalize their downtowns.

 

MMSC works to ensure that the downtown districts in Missouri's cities and towns remain essential elements to their sense of community, their cultural heritage and to the state's economy. Downtown revitalization is encouraged through economic development within the context of historic preservation. The primary purpose is to ensure the long-term success of the downtown by creating, educating, training and empowering a comprehensive, professional, volunteer-based downtown revitalization organization. 

Michael Shuman is Keynote for Missouri's Annual Revitalization Conference

Michael Shuman is an economist, entrepreneur, attorney, and a globally recognized expert on community economics. A local economy pioneer, he has authored or coauthored nine books, including Local Dollars, Local Sense; The Small Mart Revolution; Going Local; and Growing Local Living Economies

 

In his latest book, The Local Economy Solution (Chelsea Green, 2015), he suggests that economic development as practiced today-to attract and retain business-is fundamentally misguided, because it overlooks locally owned small business, exactly the businesses most important for any Main Street revitalization. 

 

He is also one of the architects of the crowdfunding reforms that became the JOBS Act; a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE); and a teacher of economic development at Simon Fraser University. 

 

Shuman will be the Keynote Speaker for Get Plugged In...Downtown in Kansas City July 28-30. Register today to hear his argument how local economic development might be possible at zero long-term cost. 

Get Plugged In Early Registration Expires July 8

Get Plugged In...Downtown, Missouri's Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference, will be held July 28, 29 and 30 in Kansas City, Missouri. This conference is an annual educational and networking event for commercial district revitalization that blends economic development, community revitalization and historic preservation. 

 

For 2015, Get Plugged In...Downtown is going back to the basics of downtown revitalization and to the extreme with innovation, entrepreneurship and placemaking. Professionals and volunteers will be informed, motivated, and empowered during three days of classroom sessions that offer innovative, inspiring lessons. This conference will include Basic Training courses in the Main Street Four-Point Approach�, a general assembly with keynote speaker, breakout sessions focusing on downtown revitalization, educational field tours, and exhibit hall as well as a number of networking activities. Featured speakers include: Michael H. Shuman, General Assembly Keynote Speaker; Norma Ramirez de Miess of National Main Street Center; and Dan Corson and Lisa Craig, Certified Local Government Workshop presenters.

 

Get Plugged In...Downtown is brought to you by the Missouri Main Street Connection, Inc., in partnership with the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Registration is currently open - register early for discounted rates. Visit the Get Plugged In...Downtown website to see sessions, tours, and events offered and to register. 

Miles and Smiles Across the State

The spring and early summer have been a very active time for Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) through attending training in Iowa and the National Main Streets conference in Atlanta in between home state visits. Since January, the MMSC staff has visited more than 27 Missouri communities covering all four corners of the state from Maryville to Canton, from Cape Girardeau to Joplin, and everything in between.

 

Many visits were to Affiliate Grant communities where the foundation of Main Street is being built. The strength of a Main Street comes from the structure, the Main Street Four-Point Approach�, and the people in the community. The Affiliate Grant program helps set that necessary foundation. Additional visits early in the year were assessments for National Main Street Accreditation. Norma Miess, from the National Main Street Center, spent three weeks in Missouri assessing the top two tiers of the Missouri Main Street Tier Structure. The assessments are an informative tool for evaluating the program and helping it grow into a stronger, more effective organization. It also recognizes those Main Street programs in Missouri that are stellar, through national and state accreditation. The communities accredited for their work in 2014 were Cape Girardeau, Chillicothe, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Warrensburg and Washington. 

 

Missouri Main Street staff also conducted training sessions for communities by request. MMSC offers a focused slate of training opportunities that can be brought to the community or conducted in the MMSC office in Branson. Whether a community is looking for a board strategic planning session or needs help with a large event planning exercise, Missouri Main Street can provide these services. Other services available include helping with the creation of a board or employee manual, creating a marketing or communications toolkit, and historic preservation or redevelopment project assistance. Check out the complete service directory online

 

By Keith Winge, Community Development Coordinator, MMSC

Missouri 2030 and Missouri's Main Streets

 

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry released its first-ever statewide economic development strategy on February 25, 2015. Almost a year-long research and planning process resulted in "Missouri 2030:  An Agenda to Lead" (www.mo2030.com) that offers some partnership opportunities for the Missouri Main Street Connection and our main street organizations.

 

Four "drivers" comprise the framework for Missouri 2030:

  1. Preparing the Workforce
  2. Competing for Jobs
  3. Connecting through Infrastructure
  4. Uniting the Business Community

The six goals and 20 action steps of Preparing the Workforce do not really have a direct role where MMSC might intervene, but one the nine goals and two of the 27 action steps of Competing for Jobs driver offers opportunities for MMSC to help in the plan's implementation. The goal is to "foster entrepreneurs and innovation." Where do entrepreneurs love to be? Along our exciting, mixed-use, and vibrant main streets, of course. One of the action steps seeks to "make Missouri a much more attractive state for business start-ups." How much more attractive can we get than our historic commercial centers? A second action step would "provide annual regional entrepreneur networking events." Main streets are superb places for networking!

 

Two of the three goals and four of the 12 action steps for Connecting through Infrastructure could very well involve our main streets. One action step under the goal "Expand Missouri's logistics capacity for trade" is to create an alliance that would bring together businesses involved with trade. Our main street communities have plenty such businesses, and we should use our main streets to encourage more of them. A second action step under that goal is to promote a "Made in Missouri" campaign. What is better representative of Missouri-made than our main streets? And our main streets would be awesome places for networking and for showing off the exportable products and services of their respective communities.

 

Also under Infrastructure is a goal to "develop a competitive advantage in broadband coverage and speed." The two action steps seek to "stimulate broadband use" and to "support grant programs" to assist Missourians in acquiring and using broadband equipment. Main street organizations should be at the forefront of broadband infrastructure in support of attracting and retaining the best run small businesses.

 

The final driver, Uniting the Business Community, has just one goal but seven action steps, four of which could be opportunities for main street organizations. One creates an "online website dashboard to display Missouri's progress in key economic indicators." The Main Street program is built on measuring for success, so many of our own metrics could be part of this dashboard. A second action step would continue the "network of Missouri's strongest chambers of commerce" called the Missouri Chamber Federation.  Five of MMSC's nine accredited or associate main streets are already in cities whose chambers are members of this federation: Cape Girardeau, Chillicothe, Lee's Summit, Liberty, and Sedalia. In other words, we effectively have a seat at the table with our best chambers, so let's exercise some of our main street energy to make them-and us-even better. The fourth action step is to "issue frequent media releases. . ." to announce accomplishments.  Does this sound like good marketing, one of the tenets of the Four Points Approach? Who communicates better than main street organizations, so who can provide the best lessons learned on doing it right?

 

Research for Missouri 2030 confirmed that Missouri is a relatively poor performing economy among the 50 states. The state chamber has taken it upon itself to be part of the solution, and is encouraging everyone to join the team. There are plenty of ways that our main street organizations can also be part of the team, while also promoting growth and economic sustainability for an increasing number of main streets throughout the state.

 

By Bob Lewis, Principal of Development Strategies in St. Louis and MMSC Board of Directors Member

Warrensburg Sees a New Vision for the Town Square

 

The community of Warrensburg, Missouri, is looking to make improvements to the downtown square.

 

After facilitating a design charrette in February 2015, Russ Volmert of Arcturis was asked to develop conceptual designs to improve public spaces at the back of the Johnson County Courthouse. Then in June, Russ returned to Warrensburg to present the company's vision of how the west side of the courthouse square could look.

 

An audience of 50 people, consisting mostly of county and city officials and business leaders from the Chamber of Commerce and Warrensburg Main Street, packed the Johnson County Commission meeting room to see the new vision for the improved square.

 

The plan presented by Russ calls for keeping some parking spaces next to the building but removing about 11 spaces. He considered Warrensburg's heritage during the process and included ideas for trellises, a small fountain and sculptures telling the stories of world-famous dogs.

 

Russ and Julie both stated the vision offered from Arcturis for the west side of the square is not necessarily the only design solution but it is a starting point for further discussion.

 

Julie commented that this is a project for the whole community and explained the next step would be to put a committee together of key stakeholders and invite others in the community who want to be involved.

 

The biggest obstacle now is money. Russ suggested the city could seek tax credits and donations to address the question of funding for the design project. Julie said they'll be looking at different funding sources, such as foundations and some applicable grants.

 

Community member Don Butterfield won the $1300 design service from Arcturis in an auction during the 2014 Missouri Main Street annual conference and awards ceremony. He then donated the service to Warrensburg Main Street. 

 

Sources: "Architect to Submit Concepts from Design Charette" by Sue Sterling, Staff Writer for www.dailystarjournal.com on 02/19/15; "Community Sees Vision for Improved Square" by Jack "Miles" Ventimiglia, Editor for www.dailystarjournal.com on 06/18/15; and image from Russ Volmert, Director of Planning & Landscape Architecture for Arcturis in St. Louis, MO.

Promotions Done Right

 

"Promotions" is just one part of the "Four Point Approach" taught by Main Street for downtown revitalization, but Promotions done right is a very important part of any successful Main Street program. For new programs, Promotions signal to the public and business community that something is happening downtown. For more mature programs, Promotions keep downtown humming!

 

The purpose of Promotions is pretty plain and simple--getting more people to visit your downtown. Your Promotions should market your district with a unified image to identify downtown as a gathering place as well as a shopping place. Promotions should accentuate the renewal of community pride.

 

There are three kinds of Promotions:

  1. Image campaigns that accentuate the positive and dispel the negative. Good examples of Image campaigns are Architectural "Treasure Hunts," "Buy Local" Campaigns, and District Gift Certificate programs.
  2. Business/Retail Promotions should generate immediate sales of the goods and services offered downtown. Examples might be Wine or Chocolate Crawls, Ladies Night Out, Black Friday Promotions or other Christmas Shopping Promotions.
  3. Special events will generate traffic, activity and positive experiences in the downtown.  Examples might be Parades, Concerts or Festivals. Often times, Special Events can also be fundraisers.

Your Promotion Committee should choose promotions that communicate your districts unique characteristics, history, and traditions. Promotions will attract shoppers and visitors as well as potential business and property owners.

 

The job of the Promotion Committee is to understand the changing market, identify the district's assets including people, buildings, heritage and institutions, and to define Main Street's market niche which is a unique position in the local marketplace.

 

But perhaps the most important job of the Promotion Committee is to create NEW image campaigns, business/retail promotions and special events to lure people back to the district.

 

The Promotion Committee should develop a Promotion Calendar that has balance between all three kinds of Promotions. In order to do that, the committee must first identify current assets and target markets; establish promotion objectives and overall strategies and then design individual events for your unique community. Put them in Calendar form and distribute to all businesses in the district well ahead of time.

 

And finally, evaluate, evaluate, evaluate! Evaluation allows you to compare events and programs from year to year and make needed changes and/or improvements. Take photos, make notes on what you did this year and always consider how it can be improved for next year.

 

For more detailed information on Promotions, or to find ideas for new Promotions for your Main Street program, go to Mainstreet.org and search "Promotions." You will be surprised at what you might find to help your community achieve "Promotions Done Right."

 

By Diane Hannah, Downtown Revitalization Specialist and MMSC Advisory Board of Directors Member