Indiana Main Street organizations could benefit from a state plan to bring in new strategies targeted to enhance a community’s downtown.
Often, Main Street agencies “silo their committees. Design is doing something, economic development is doing something, but they are not meshed together, working together holistically,” Mary Shaw, project manager for the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, told about 45 who gathered at the Indiana Main Street Community Exchange, hosted Friday by the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce at the Indiana Theatre.
The community exchange brings Indiana Main Street organizations together to network and learn from each other.
The exchange on Friday represented about 25 Main Street organizations in the state, said Kristin Craig, vice president of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce.
Attending the exchange allows a Main Street organization to meet a requirement to apply for a downtown enhancement grant through the state Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
Shaw said the national organization Main Street America has been working on 20 new “transformation strategies” for the past three years.
“They had pilot states of Michigan, Florida and Wyoming where they selected seven to 10 communities [in each state] to implement the strategies. So the communities picked one or two transformational strategies to focus all of their efforts on,” Shaw said. It is the second year of implementing the strategy program, she said.
To bring that to the state, Indiana’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs has contracted with Main Street America to do the same in Indiana in 2018. “We will select seven communities to do this. It will be free to the communities,” Shaw said.
“It is focused on marketing your downtown and what are the needs for the downtown and ways to bring in business and more people to downtown,” Shaw said. “Main Street is based on four points — economic vitality, promotion, organization and design. A lot of times maybe some of the older Main Street [groups] siloed some of these four points,” she said.
There are guidelines for which the seven communities will be selected by the state agency in 2018. Three Indiana communities must have a population of less than 5,000; three other communities with populations of 5,000 to 50,000; and one community over 50,000 population will be selected for the transformation strategy visit, Shaw said.
It requires a two-year commitment to the strategy from a Main Street organization, Shaw said. Communities must conduct a community survey in advance of Main Street America’s arrival as well as have U.S. Census and Tapestry data. The communities selected must hold at least four focus group meetings and a public presentation of data, survey and suggested transformation strategies, Shaw said.
In a discussion on how to improve Main Street programs, John Moore of Brazil Main Street said that agency needs an employee to work year round. “I see that as a stumbling block,” without having a professional employee, he said.
Harry Webb of Rochester Downtown Partnership said that group is moving away from membership dues to corporate sponsorships. That way the group can seek funding of the organization, then the partnership’s board can determine how it will seek employment of a staff member, Webb said.
Gerry White, northwest community liaison from Office of Community and Rural Affairs, said Main Street agencies can request funding from a county that has a county economic development income tax. In some Indiana counties, convention and visitors bureaus also provide funding to Main Street agencies that can be used for staffing, White said.
A Main Street group in Clinton relies totally on volunteers and has sought funding through grants.
Dylan Riggen, president of Rediscover Clinton, said the group has been a Main Street organization for about three years. Rediscover Clinton obtained grants for a walking trail and has held its annual fundraising event that this year generated nearly $10,000, he said.
“We focus more on the beautification side. We have done some planters and community calendars on a couple buildings so people know what is going on in the community,” Riggen said.
Riggen said Rediscover Clinton is made possible through efforts of volunteers, with no paid staff. Riggen also serves as executive director of the Vermillion County Economic Development Council. “We have been thinking about how we can bring in some outside investment and move forward,” he said, such as getting corporate sponsors.
The community exchange included tours of the Indiana Theatre, the Swope Art Museum and Haute Mason in Terre Haute’s downtown.