Green River URA/Main Street has been designated as an accredited Main Street America Community for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by Main Street America.
Receiving national accreditation is a prestigious achievement and the city is very proud to be one of the 828 communities across the nation that has been recognized as a Main Street community for the year 2017.
The board and I are pleased to have received accreditation again this year for our 12th straight year. Our organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Wyoming Main Street Program which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten performance standards.
Established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980, the National Main Street Center helps communities of all sizes revitalize their older and historic commercial districts.
“Accredited Main Street programs create vibrant communities by using a comprehensive strategy to preserve their historic character and revitalize their commercial districts, which helps make these great places to work, live, play and visit,” Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center said.
The National Main Street Center recognizes that each community is different and may need to operate within a different structure than has previously been identified and as a result has implemented a “Refresh Approach.” Green River is one of three communities that have been selected by Wyoming Main Street to receive assistance to develop their “refreshed approach” and develop Transformation Strategies for downtown. What that means for Green River is that Green River URA/Main Street has been provided with an opportunity to work with Josh Bloom of the Community Land Use and Economics Group to provide market analysis assistance and help to guide us toward a focused economic development strategy. In addition to providing market analysis information, we are gathering community input to help create the vision for what Green River wants their downtown to be. This process will result in the following:
*District Transformation Strategies. A written summary of catalyst business development strategies with business and customer group opportunities identified.
*Economic Vitality Work Plan. A written work plan of comprehensive recommendations for action including, but not limited to partnership opportunities, niche promotion and marketing activities, key design enhancements and projects, private or public, commercial or residential, which could potentially catalyze other economic development investment. The EV would help guide the organization through an activity framework with future budgeting, capacity needs, resource needs, and timelines.
*Metric Development. As a follow-up to the EV, each activity or group of activities should have either a qualitative and/or quantitative metric along with a baseline to better understand if work efforts are truly making a difference on the selected Transformation Strategies.
*Final Executive Report. Following the presentation, the National Main Street Center will incorporate feedback into an executive report.
If you’d like to have your say about your vision for downtown, you may take our survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRL27CY.
We will host a community meeting on Aug. 17, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Western Wyoming Community College Green River Campus Auditorium to discuss the results of the survey and to hear more ideas.
If you have any questions about the Main Street program, how you can get involved, or the Transformation Strategy development process, please contact us at 307.872.6141 or email jmelvin@cityofgreenriver.org.
Reader Comments(0)