Community Transformation Strategies Workbook
This workbook has everything you need to guide you from start to finish through the entire strategic planning process. Published by Georgia Main Street.
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Welcome to the 2019 edition of State of Main, the annual publication of Main Street America. Serving as both an annual report and an industry journal, State of Main provides a detailed look back on all that we have accomplished together and offers cutting-edge ideas and trends in the commercial district revitalization field.
This year’s edition is dedicated to celebrating the incredible depth and diversity of the Main Street experience and exploring the role of place in creating stronger communities. With articles written by industry experts on topics ranging from the transformative placemaking to inclusive entrepreneurship, the publication is brimming with tools, tips, and strategies that will help you lead a results-oriented revitalization effort.
Why We Need To Invest in Transformative Placemaking
By Jennifer Vey, senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and director of the Bass Center
In an era marked by stark inequalities — by income and wealth, by race and ethnicity, by geography — there is an urgency, and opportunity, for local and regional leaders to embrace and advance place-led development that produces better economic outcomes for more people in more places. To help deliver on that imperative, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program launched the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking in collaboration with Project for Public Spaces, the National Main Street Center, and others. Learn more the Bass Center in in this piece by Jennifer Vey, senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and director of the Center.
The Importance of Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystems
By Dell Gines, Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
In this article, Dell Gines, Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, takes a look at the importance of entrepreneurship in our national and local economies, discusses the entrepreneurship ecosystem movement as an economic development strategy designed to spur local entrepreneurship, delves into the emerging focus of inclusive economic development, and concludes by examining ways to create inclusion in the development of entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Activating the Main Street Approach through Placemaking
By Michael Wagler, Coordinator for Main Street Iowa
Michael Wagler, Main Street Iowa Coordinator at the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Downtown Resource Center, explores how placemaking principles can be utilized as an implementation strategy of local Main Street efforts to empower community members and create more action-oriented programs. He provides strategies on how to get started, offers inspiring case stories of programs across the state that are demonstrating impact and change through placemaking activities, and outlines tips for creating a more action-oriented Main Street program.