CATeam Programs

Cool Cities - Michigan Main Street

Overview

The Cool Cities Michigan Main Street program is an excellent resource for communities to gain access to proven downtown development strategies and learn how to maximize the unique assets of their central business districts.

It is a downtown revitalization program administered by the MEDC. Main Street offers intensive, year-round training in strategies designed to create more jobs and investment in Michigan's downtown communities.

The MEDC implemented the Main Street program statewide in 2003. Four communities won the designation in 2003: Boyne City, Calumet/Calumet Township, Marshall and Portland. The 2004 communities selected are Clare, Muskegon and Niles. Michigan Main Street communities are selected based on the following factors:

• the physical characteristics of the proposed Main Street area;
• the capacity of the downtown business organization;
• local economic factors; and,
• the willingness of the community to actively participate, including a $20,000 minimum commitment to cover part of the costs of implementing the program.

Michigan is one of 39 states with a Main Street program. The communities selected to participate are educated in the four-step Main Street approach which includes promoting long-term design concepts, community cooperation and organization, community marketing and encouraging economic restructuring to strengthen the existing economic base while expanding it to meet new opportunities.

Since 1980, the National Main Street Center has been working with communities across the nation to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas. The Main Street approach was initially developed to preserve historic commercial architecture but has become a powerful economic development tool for downtown revitalization.

The Cool Cities Michigan Main Street Selection and Advisory Committee is made up of local and state stakeholders, who have a vested and diverse interest in the successful revitalization of Michigan's downtowns. The committee conducts the final application review and selection of Main Street communities.

Cool Cities Michigan Main Street Vision Statement

Cool Cities Michigan Main Street desires Michigan's downtowns, big and small, to revitalize and to grow into thriving traditional centers of commerce for people and business. These healthy and vibrant downtowns and neighborhood centers are part of a larger strategy to retain and attract young people, professionals and high tech companies to the State of Michigan.

Goal

Create the top Main Street Program in the country. This will be accomplished by providing the critical technical assistance, central training support, and networking opportunities for its Main Street communities utilizing the 4-point approach (organization, promotion, design and economic revitalization), relying on key partnerships, and devising unique alternatives.

Objectives

1. Select four Michigan communities in 2005 as Michigan Main Street communities and provide them with intense training opportunities. Please note that communities/neighborhoods are not eligible if they are located in Oakland County or in the City of Detroit.
2. Provide umbrella Main Street assistance for existing, fully operational local Main Street programs, through the following team of experts:
   • Michigan Economic Development’s (MEDC) Community Assistance Team (CATeam), Michigan State Historic Preservation Office (MSHPO), and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s (MSHDA) Community Development (CD) Technical Assistance
   • National Technical Assistance from Main Street
   • Shared expenses for workshops and training conferences
   • Private consultants
3. Provide limited Michigan Main Street programming to existing, but not fully operating local Main Street programs and to any/all downtown communities and/or neighborhood commercial centers throughout the state that are interested in the very basic Main Street concepts and other downtown development tools.
4. Provide networking opportunities with national and state Main Street experts.