Thank you for reading our newsletter. To stay informed between issues,
|
|
|
|
Adaptive Reuse of Warehouses and Industrial Properties
|
Tuesday, March 10
Fort Payne
10 AM - 4 PM
|
Join us Tuesday, March 10 in Fort Payne and hear from Joe Borgstrom with Place + Main Advisors about converting abandoned gas stations, dry cleaners, gins, warehouses and factories into vibrant spaces. At this training, you'll also learn about available resources from agencies including Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) and Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA). Tripp Collins and Eric Wright
also
will share successful adaptive reuse examples from Gadsden.
Click here
to learn more and register for the full-day workshop.
Registration
is $135. Please note that Designated and Network communities receive a discount, please
email us
if you have any questions.
|
|
Check Out Main Street Alabama Videos
|
|
Stay tuned for a special Main Street America blog post about the work behind the scenes.
|
|
Designated Communities Report on What’s Happening in their District. Here are a few highlights:
Downtown Gadsden’s living opportunities continue to grow with 14 upper-floor units nearing completion, bringing the total number of units in the district to 39. Interest in upper-floor development was spurred by a City program offering $5,000 per housing unit completed in the district.
Downtown Gadsden, Inc.
recently distributed 1,000 new racks cards listing events, like the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl on March 14, to rest areas across the state.
Opelika Main Street
recently hosted a board training retreat to set short- and long-term goals for the program. Downtown Opelika’s Christmas season was the biggest ever with over $100,000 in new displays and the first Holiday Decorating Contest. The program also announced their now slogan “Where Preservation Meets Progress.”
|
|
Main Street Alabama Board Appoints New Officers, Votes on Strategic Plan
|
The new slate of officers for
Main Street Alabama's
Board Directors are the following; Chair, Lisa Miller,
Alabama Municipal Electric Authority Manager of Communications & Marketing; Immediate Past Chair, Paul Carruthers, Regions Bank Senior VP & Regional Community Affairs Manager; Treasurer, Paul Kennedy, Walker Area Community Foundation President; and Secretary, Ernie Cowart, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Business Information.
Click
for a complete list of Board Members
.
At the November meeting, the Board approved Main Street Alabama's Five-Year Strategic Plan which can be viewed by clicking
here.
|
|
Main Street Alabama kicked off 2020 in great style with a new
Main Street Alabama's, three well-attended new city application workshops, quarterly training planned and ready to go, and a great start on our annual conference "the LAB."
Main Street Alabama commissioned
Pilcrow Pictures to produce two videos for our organization. Main Street Alabama staff, Marylon Barkan, Trisha Black and myself worked in four communities to get the footage and interviews needed for the videos. My special thanks go to Marylon Barkan, Marketing & Communication Coordinator, for her tireless efforts to bring this project to a very successful conclusion. Marylon left us at the end of December on this very high note. We will miss her and her creative spirit and wish her all the best in her new endeavors.
In our next newsletter we will feature a new service we offer; "Ready to Recruit." We work with
Downtown Professionals Network on this technical assistance and training service designed for communities needing to identify or better profile business types that might be targeted for expansion and recruitment and are seeking to take the scope of Economic Vitality and business development efforts to a new level. We are currently providing this service to Anniston and Gadsden.
Just a few of the things we have going on! Always busy creating jobs and keeping character in Alabama!
|
|
Training Opportunities Available
|
|
 |
Over the course of the workshop, you will learn how to work with a wide range of personalities and overcome barriers that prevent communities from seeing real economic development. You’ll learn how to use writing, drawings, and conversation to effectively shepherd big ideas through a complicated and strenuous process of project development.
May 6-8, 2020
Camp McDowell
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It’s not too late to join us in Dallas May 18-20 for three days of learning, networking, and fun at the Main Street Now Conference! Don’t miss the largest national convening of local leaders working to advance economic opportunity in downtowns and commercial districts, as well as a celebration of 40 years of the Main Street Movement! Meet your peers from across the country, discover practical tools to help your community thrive, and get inspired by Dallas and Texas Main Street communities at dozens of field sessions. Local elected officials and senior-level local government staff will receive a special discounted registration rate of just $125. Learn more at
mainstreet.org/now2020
|
|
As a Main Street America™ Coordinating Program, Main Street Alabama helps to lead a powerful, grassroots network consisting of over 40 Coordinating Programs and over 1,200 neighborhoods and communities across the country committed to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.
|
|
Stay in touch with Main Street Alabama
|
|
Main Street Alabama
880 Montclair Road, Suite 245
Birmingham, AL 35213
205-910-8819
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
