Rochester Main Street receives grant

Last year, the National Main Street Center (NMSC) announced the launch of its first-ever Technical Assistance Grants. The competitive award program gives Main Street programs an opportunity to receive hands-on training from leading revitalization experts at the National Main Street Center on one of four topics: Strategic Planning, Fund raising, Leadership and Board Development, or Diversity.

Selecting the recipients was not an easy task, but we are pleased that the time has arrived to announce the four winners of the first round of grants. In the coming year, Main Street programs in Milford, Delaware; Nampa, Idaho; North Capitol Main Street, Washington DC; and a group of communities in New Hampshire will receive customized technical assistance from NMSC Senior Field Officers.

"NMSC has decades of experience catalyzing community-driven revitalization initiatives in Main Street communities across the country," says Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to increase our impact by lending a hand in Delaware, Idaho, Washington, DC, and New Hampshire to get four important projects off the ground."

Titled" Building Leadership In New Hampshire" the Rochester Main Street application was one of four successful applications from across the United States to receive a $2,500 award to facilitate bringing a National Main Street staffer to New Hampshire. New Hampshire lost its state coordinating program in 2008 due to a variety of reasons. In the absence of a coordinating program, New Hampshire Main Street communities have relied completely on dedicated volunteers and local program staff to carry on the work of revitalizing downtowns across the state. Over the past six years, volunteer Certified Main Street Managers have led basic Four Point trainings and continued to organize the existing New Hampshire programs and advocate for a relaunch of a state coordinating program. Despite this persistence, New Hampshire has eight remaining active programs - down from 20 - and there is an acute need for leadership development to cultivate new board members and support the managers who have not had the benefit of receiving training from a coordinating program.

In Rochester, New Hampshire - the lead community in the technical assistance application - Executive Director Michael Provost has been one of the managers who remained at the helm of the Main Street program through this transition. While he has dedicated and engaged board members and volunteers, and has been strategic about divvying up responsibilities with other directors, high turnover means that many of the tasks that are typically assigned to trained staff , board members and longtime volunteers are becoming more difficult. The other participating communities, including Colebrook, Concord, Dover, Enfield, Goffstown, Jaffrey, Lisbon, Ossipee, and Wilton, who all face similar challenges, or have managers who have not had the benefit of thorough Main Street training. Provost recognizes this need and hopes to capitalize on the visit from the NMSC: "In applying for the initial round of the National Main Street Center's Technical Assistance Grant Program, we not only considered the Rochester Program, but what would strengthen and enhance all of our state Main Street programs. This is especially important as many of the New Hampshire programs are now relying completely on volunteer leadership and/or part-time staff."

The leadership development workshop that will be hosted by the National Main Street Center will provide this group of communities with an opportunity to come together to plan as a group, specifically around board roles and responsibilities, board make-up, fund raising, advocacy, and succession planning. In focusing on strengthening the leadership of the existing New Hampshire Main Street communities, the goal is to pave the way for the restart of a New Hampshire coordinating program. Arrangements are currently under way to arrange for a full-day training session in late spring that will be open to all New Hampshire Communities, to be hosted in Rochester at the Frisbie Community Education and Conference Center.

For more information on the training session, or if you have a community with a downtown organization that promotes revitalization, or would like to start one, please feel free to contact the Rochester Main Street office at 603-330-3208 or email director@rochestermainstreet.org.