Downtown Assessment

The Downtown Assessment Resource Team Visit

Considering taking the first step towards becoming an Affiliate Main Street community? A Downtown Assessment Resource Team Visit (DART) may be right for you.

A Downtown Assessment Resource Team, (D.A.R.T), Visit is for any
community in Ohio, which would like assistance in developing or
enhancing a downtown revitalization program. The community may
be in the beginning stages of a downtown revitalization program or
it may have a program that has been in existence for some time. For
the beginning program, it is designed to set priorities and provide the
consensus necessary for taking significant steps to provide solid business
management to the downtown. It will also serve to introduce the
community to the basic building blocks of a comprehensive long-term
program: operations, marketing, design, and economic vitality.
The type of assistance needed is determined during the preliminary
stages of planning the assessment. Interested communities are sent a
“Community Assessment Checklist,” which asks some basic questions
in the areas of Operations, Marketing, Design and Business Climate.
Once completed and returned, Heritage Ohio is able to assemble a
Downtown Assessment Resource Team composed of members whose
expertise closely matches the needs of the responding community. The
checklist is used as a starting point from which data is assembled and
presentations designed to most accurately address the needs of the
revitalization program.

During the D.A.R.T Visit, the local contact person or another volunteer is
responsible for recording the results of group discussion, addressing any
last minute changes or revisions, and maintaining any necessary followup
contact with Heritage Ohio.