How to Apply?
A community that has been an Aspiring Ohio Main Street Community for at least one year and has, or is planning, a DART Assessment is eligible to apply to become an Affiliate Ohio Main Street community.
To begin the process, contact Frances Jo Hamilton at fhamilton@heritageohio.org. After our initial conversation, we will send you the application to complete.
What is Required of the Applying Community?
A community that has submitted an application to be designated as an Affiliate Ohio Main Street Community will receive a visit from our application team. At this meeting we will tour the downtown district, meet with local officials and facilitate small groups for each of the four points.
The team will assess the organization and will provide suggestions for the coming year. The goal is to set benchmarks to get your community based on the assessment benchmarks of the Progress Visit set by Main Street America. The team will also share with the community leaders and small groups the benefits to the Ohio Main Street program by giving an overview of the network and training that build the fabric of the program and its communities.
Invitation/Registration Committee
Assemble a list of people to be invited. This list will be determined mostly by inviting the members of your board and the four committees, Design, Economic Vitality, Organization and Promotion. Feel free to include other community members who might be interested in joining in this process.
The list should include:
- Board of Directors for the downtown organization
- Committee members for all four committees
- Merchants and non-retail business owners in the downtown
- Selected city staff and elected officials
- Realtors, property owners and residents
- Large institutions and industrial leaders
- Civic group volunteers
- Media representative
Divide the list into categories:
- “Musts” – those people who are essential to such the program
- “Would Likes” – those people that it would be nice to have input from but who are not seen as crucial to the program
- “Welcomes” – that larger group, some of whom may not even be known to be interested in the downtown but who wish to participate
Design and mail out invitations, create a social media event, send electronic invitations, etc. After this, receive registrations and follow-up with phone calls where necessary
Application Visit Agenda
9 am – Team Arrives and has a tour of the downtown district
11am – Team lunch with Board Members and Stakeholders
12:30 pm – Small Group Sessions with Four Committees present
2pm – Team meets alone to review committee Sessions and recommendations
3pm – Team reconvenes with full board, stakeholders, committee members to discuss designation