Conversation is a question-and-answer interview with a local person. This week’s interview is with Casey Woods who is the director of Emporia Main Street. The Main Street board recently held a planning retreat and adopted new goals for the year.
Q What does the board want to accomplish this year?
A We are going to continue with the Community Initiative Development program which will aid in the redevelopment of downtown. The CID is a huge project and we are in Phase 3 right now. A big part of Phase 3 is identifying infrastructure needs and then utilizing that information to move forward.
This program encompasses several different things. It is for upper story development and infield development like the Granada Plaza & Lofts.
We want to keep expanding our entrepreneur base and recruiting new businesses to help fill market needs as well as take care of dilapidated properties, and continuing with aesthetics programs like our garden adoption program.
Besides working on our CID plan this year, we also want to continue and expand our Start Your Own Business class with the Flint Hills Technical College. But this year we want to add a mentoring section to that. That program has been very successful.
Flint Hills Laser Expressions, PunkinDoodles, and Ginny’s Dance Studio all came out of the Start Your Own Business class. We have a couple more graduates I am speaking with about store fronts.
We want to make sure that program continues and adding mentoring to it will make it even better.
Other longterm projects we are looking at is still a WiFi program for the downtown district. We are trying to create some cooperatives activities for either upper story development or business transition. Business transitions will be a huge challenge over the next five years as some of our business owners are looking to retire.
Q What else happened?
A The other major structural thing that people may not see initially but I think it will be big for the organization is the concept to have individual representation on the board of the directors.
Since the inception of the program, we have wanted to have on our board different people representing different segments of the membership. We want to make sure people on the board are actually in a position to represent their constituents.
Q Is the board receptive to change?
A The board is very supportive and signed off on these changes. The board recognizes change can be rough, but we feel this organization is ready to take the next step. We have a board who is ready to push to get these things done to help make Emporia a better place.
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