Indiana Main Street Updates Jackie Swihart, IMS Coordinator - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs

Indiana Main Street Updates

Jackie Swihart, IMS Coordinator

September 24, 2020

Agency under the Office of Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch

Agenda

Overview of OCRA Background on NMSC Indiana Main Street: Background and Future Recent IMS initiatives through COVID-19 Questions

Office of Community and Rural Affairs

VISION: OCRA works with Indiana communities to build relevant and economically thriving places where people want to live, grow, work and play. MISSION: OCRA works with local, state and national partners to provide resources and technical assistance to aid communities in shaping and achieving their vision for community and economic development.

OCRA Community Liaisons

Northwest Gerry White, (317) 694-8372 gewhite@ocra.in.gov Northeast Andrea Kern, (317) 607-4821 Akern1@ocra.in.gov East Central Colette Childress, (317) 416-3281 CChildress@ocra.IN.gov Southwest Lisa Muench, (317) 504-6965 LMuench@ocra.IN.gov Southeast Jennifer Voris, (317) 690-9736 jvoris@ocra.in.gov West Central DeeDee Leonard, (317) 450-5078 DLeonard1@ocra.IN.gov

Indiana Main Street Program

Coordinating Program

• f the National Main

Street Center Encourages Economic Development and Revitalization of Downtown Areas Emphasizes Preservation and Development of Traditional Downtown Resources Provides support for the implementation of local strategies to stimulate long-term growth and pride in the heart of the communities’ downtown core

IM IMS Program Managers

Jackie Swihart IMS Coordinator Abby Chapman IMS Manager of Outreach and Organization

National Main Street Center: Background

• NMSC was developed in the late 1970’s to help communities revitalize their

downtown areas

• Started as a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Launched as an independent subsidiary of the National Trust in 2013
• Rebranded as Main Street America in 2015
• Madison, IN was one of three communities nationwide to participate as a

pilot

• Legislation was passed in 1985 to establish the Indiana Main Street Program

The Main Street Approach™

• Offers community-based

revitalization initiatives with a practical, adaptable framework for downtown transformation that is easily tailored to local conditions

• Begins with creating a vision for

success that is rooted in a solid understanding of the market realities

• f the district and is informed by

broad community engagement

Typical Organizational Structure

• Distinct organization

and governing body

• Typically 501(c)3 nonprofit

Common Misconceptions About IMS

Main Street programs are not just party planners They ARE economic development

• rganizations

The Indiana Main Street program is not a grant program It’s a long-term, community-driven, volunteer program Main Street programs are not the same as an EDC or Chamber There’s room for all to work together collaboratively

Takeaways

Main Street Makes a Place: “The place is becoming more important than the product.” –National Association for Realtors Placemaking IS economic development: “Economic development is really the result of creating places where people want to be.” – Oklahoma City Mayor, Mick Cornett

Indiana Main Street Moratorium

OCRA suspended IMS applications and evaluated the scope of its program Consulted with Main Street America, IMS Council, and OCRA staff to determine next steps Led to creation of a new program structure and definition of historic preservation ethic

1. Has broad-based community support for the commercial district revitalization process, with strong support from both the public and private sectors 2. Has developed vision and mission statements relevant to community conditions and to the local Main Street program's organizational stage 3. Has a comprehensive Main Street work plan 4. Possesses an historic preservation ethic 5. Has an active board of directors and committees 6. Has an adequate operating budget 7. Has a paid professional program manager 8. Conducts a program of ongoing training for staff and volunteers 9. Reports key statistics

• 10. Is a current member of the Main Street

America™ Network

MSA Standards of Performance

Standard 4: Possesses an historic preservation ethic. Historic preservation is central to the Main Street program's purpose and is what makes historic and traditional commercial districts authentic places. Historic preservation involves saving, rehabilitating, and finding new uses for existing buildings, as well as intensifying the uses of the existing buildings, through building improvement projects and policy and regulatory changes that make it easier to develop property within the commercial district.

Angola, IN

New Definition of Historic Preservation Ethic

A commercial district whose majority of architecture is at least 50 years old, maintains historic integrity and historic fabric (evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during the property’s historic period), and is significant in American history and/or architecture at the national, state, or local level, OR a commercial district that includes cultural history as part of their preservation ethic and emphasizes authentic stories of place, OR a combination of the two definitions.

Why Change is Coming

Choosing to prioritize quality over quantity New Accreditation standards forming from NMSC for State Coordinating Programs

Implementation of Changes

Community interest in the program will be highly considered OCRA will work with NMSC to implement changes Formal announcement of these changes planned for November 9, 2020

New IMS Applicants

• Application will open November 9, 2020
• Open to cities, towns, and now individual

neighborhoods

• Application deadline will be in February 2021
• Those interested should work with OCRA Community

Liaison to prepare application

• The “Checklist for Starting a Main Street Program” on
• pg. 16 of the Indiana Main Street Program Guide should

still be used as a guide

Summary ry

Changes will cater toward local conditions and capacity Planning occurred through 2019 Implementation from 2020, into 2021 New application to open Nov. 2020

IMS & COVID-19

Madison

• Madison Main Street worked with

the Community Foundation of Madison and Jefferson County to

• ffer grants reimbursing up to half
• f a business’s rent or mortgage

costs during May

• Pivoting “Fourth Friday” event to

virtual format → featured videos of small business owners showcasing their businesses, providing contact information so viewers could follow-up for purchases or gift cards

Shelbyville

• Shelbyville Main Street partnered with the Blue River

Community Foundation & Shelby County Development Corporation to pay local attorneys to help small businesses apply for disaster relief loans or paycheck protection.

• Deployed downtown dollars: For every $25 spent on local

gift cards, the program would provide $10 downtown dollars to spend at local shops through September

La Lawrenceburg

• Lawrenceburg Main Street partnered with

the City to award more than $270,000 in emergency grants to small businesses and

• ffered virtual tours showcasing local shops
• n social media

Evansville

• Downtown Evansville provided travel-size bottles of hand sanitizer with every $25 spent at local

businesses

• Created a virtual tip jar to provide relief for service industry workers
• Posted uplifting stories on their blog, “Heart of Downtown Evansville” and introduced readers to

businesses downtown

Jeffersonville

• Jeffersonville launched

an online crowdfunding campaign, raising over $15,000 for grants to local businesses

• Hired local artist Cortland

Waters Bartley to create inspiring chalk art messages on sidewalks in front of downtown businesses

IMS & COVID-19

• MSA conducted an online survey between March 25 and

April 6, 2020

• More than 5,850 small business owners responded

nationally

Survey Findings: National

• The MSA survey indicates that millions of small businesses will be at great risk of closing

permanently if the crisis continues for several months.

• COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on small businesses’ revenue, and millions of Americans

employed by our nation’s smallest businesses are at risk of unemployment as a result. Approximately 35.7 million Americans employed by small businesses appear to be at risk of unemployment.

• Business owners primarily need financial assistance and penalty-free extensions on expenses.
• State and cities need to invest in small business education and technical support programs rather

than pull back spending on these programs.

Survey Findings: Indiana

47% said they had owned their business for more than 10 years 49% of respondents characterized their business as woman owned 53% lease their business space 41% employ between 2-5 employees 70% said their business does NOT have an online sales component 82% said their business suspended storefront

• perations as a result of

COVID 87% reported loss of revenue 56% reported their revenue decreased by more than 75% 66% said they are most concerned about losing work (i.e. clients, projects, sales) 62% said information on financial assistance over the next 90 days would be most helpful to their business 56% said penalty-free extensions on expenses like rent, utilities, supplies, inventory would be most helpful to their business

Follow-up Survey Findings

• Less than half of respondents who applied for federal relief dollars in the initial stimulus round received

funding, and the smallest businesses had the least success with their applications.

• Businesses in small towns applied for federal relief dollars less often and had less success receiving

funding.

• Funding from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) offered little

long-term financial relief.

• More than a third of businesses earned no revenue in April and laid off or furloughed their entire staffs.

Personal care businesses were hit especially hard.

• Local Main Street programs play a critical role in supporting small businesses across America.
• Business owners are most interested in technical assistance focused on operating their business safely.
• Communities are working together and supporting small businesses through the crisis.

• COVID-19 Response Program was created to address the immediate impacts of COVID-19. Funds are derived from the State’s annual

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation and guidance was provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on how the funds were to be used.

• Phase I: Immediate Needs
• On April 1, the COVID-19 Response Program launched and, over the course of two weeks, received 108 Letters of Need, totaling an

estimated $23 million in requests. On April 22, Lt. Governor Crouch announced the first 13 recipients of this program.

• On April 30, an additional 49 rural Hoosier communities received more than $8.8 million in federal grant funding through the new

COVID-19 Response Program.

• Phase II: Eligible applicants include non-entitlement local units of government and can apply for up to $250,000. The two eligible economic

recovery activities include grants or loans to businesses to retain low-to-moderate (LMI) jobs.

Response: Capacity Building

Trainings conducted by NMSC to aid these four stakeholder groups:

• Main Street Communities with

Executive Director, FT and PT

• Communities with Volunteer Driven

Programs

• Board Members
• Communities who had Transformation

Strategy Visits

Training Topics

Trends in the COVID-19 Recovery That Will Shape Main Street Four Point Training Webinars Leadership Development for ED’s and Boards Statewide Workshop on Transformation Strategies

Response: Taking Care of Main Street Grants

• Provides support for the ongoing activities and administrative functions of designated Indiana Main Street

programs of up to $200,000 in total awards. Grants of $5,000 were awarded to forty Main Street programs.

• The goal is to support Indiana Main Street organizations that provide quality services to the public following

the Main Street Approach™ with special attention to organizations and communities who have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

• Opportunity to support IMS orgs who were forced to cancel major fundraising events due to the pandemic
• r who lost funding from local municipality due to reallocation of resources for COVID-19.
• Indiana Main Street organizations could coordinate programming and direct technical assistance for local

small businesses, use it toward staff and other operating expenses, promotional costs, etc.

Response: Small Business Saturday

• Instead of Downtown Development

Week, OCRA will help promote and encourage shoppers in downtown businesses

• Small business owners can complete a

form and categorize their business

• IMS is building a map that will allow

shoppers to choose small businesses to patron based on submissions

Response: Other Initiatives

Began Regional Calls Increased Communications Facebook Group

• Using Downtown Spaces to Respond to COVID-19
• Communicating During a Crisis 101
• Absentee Property Owners 101
• Code Enforcement 101
• MOU & Contract for Services 101

New Toolkits:

PWLG

• One-time grants are a legacy project of the Indiana

Women’s Suffrage Centennial, presented by Indiana Humanities and OCRA

• Created to catalyze Main Streets to discover,

preserve and activate locations that tell the story of women’s history in Indiana Main Street communities

• Main Street programs will benefit by leading the

way in this placemaking effort and assuring local elected officials, stakeholder and residents understand the impact of the organization

Preserving Women’s Legacy Grants

Included with the grant, awarded communities also receive:

• Workshop to build capacity for the communities
• A capture of the funded project, which could include:
• Professional videography capturing the project story and project

development

• Professional photography to promote the project and organization

in media

• PR professionals to help with media and specialized outlets

PWLG Awardees

Rediscover Downtown Peru Downtown Angola Coalition Michigan City Mainstreet Association

Historic Renovation Grant Program

• To preserve and rehabilitate historic properties in
• rder to further incentivize downtown economic

development

• Lead applicant must be an individual,

partnership, firm, association, corporation, etc. OR a non-profit

• Eligible activities are limited to exterior work
• Can request between $5,000 and $100,000
• Requires 1:1 match
• Must be in IN, 50 years old, be listed or eligible

for listing in state register of historic sites, be used in trade or business

• Typically opens July 1

HRGP 2020 Grantees

KSTD Development, LLC is awarded $100,000 to rehabilitate and rebuild portions

• f the Shipman-McCord House,

located in the Mansion Row Historic District of Downtown New Albany. Christ the King Parish is awarded $100,000 to preserve the Chapel

• f Our Sorrowful Mother, an

1877 gable-front Romanesque style church located on Chapel Hill Drive in the Town of Ferdinand. LCF Properties LLC is awarded $58,908 to preserve the exterior

• f the IORM building in the Town
• f Lagro.

MH Properties is awarded $39,568 to preserve 706-708 Main Street in the Downtown Historic District of the City of Jasper. 511 Inc. is awarded $30,000 for a roof replacement of 511 Wabash Ave, which is a neoclassical building in the City of Terre Haute. The Lagro United Methodist Church is awarded $45,860 to preserve twenty-two windows,

• f the Gothic Revival style

building built in 1915. The Friends of Ward Township

• No. 5 Randolph County are

awarded $7,350 to assist in recreating the missing bell tower as it appeared in the 1891 one- room school construction. Jason Long is awarded $18,421 to preserve the Sherman Row House located in the Town of Vernon. Brandon Denton of Denton Floyd Real Estate Group is awarded $100,000 to preserve the Masonic Temple for the Clark Lodge #40 Freemasons. The Children’s Museum is awarded $12,500 to preserve the Stutz House’s tile roof in Indianapolis. Dickos Peterson & Metz Real Estate is awarded $68,754 to rehabilitate and revitalize two buildings located in the center of the commercial district of the City of Wabash. Bryan Van Duyne is awarded $8,639 to renovate the Reeve Building, in the City of Plymouth.

Questions?

Jackie Swihart Project Manager Indiana Main Street Coordinator Office of Community and Rural Affairs 317-460-6177 jswihart@ocra.in.gov