ROUNDTABLE
Day in the Life of a Main Street Manager
12:00 noon — 1:00pm
Presenter:
Hey all you skeptics, this one’s for you!
You’ve heard us talking about “Main Street” for years now, and maybe you’ve never fully understood how it would work or make a difference? Of course we have no frame of reference because Rhode Island hasn’t (yet!) embraced the idea of Main Street America’s program. But maybe you’re curious why we believe so strongly that this program would be so beneficial to the state and our communities?
Imagine your community had a full time person whose job was to make your Main Street district successful… We haven’t seen this very often in Rhode Island, but hundreds of other communities around the country have invested in Main Street manager positions as a way to reap the economic and social benefits of the Main Street Approach.
But what does a Main Street manager actually do? How could funding this kind of position lead to results on the ground? Let’s learn about it from the former CEO of Main Street Waterbury (CT) and the current Field Services Officer for the Connecticut Main Street Center, Carl Rosa.
Even if a paid Main Street Manager might not be possible for your district right now, learning more about the tasks they undertake can help all of us think about how we work in our Main Street districts, how we make the case to fund Main Street work, and how we think about the future.
RESOURCES
The job description and other resources shared below were generously outlined for us in conversation with the Connecticut Main Street Center. They have been a great model and partner for us as we build our own Main Street Center here in Rhode Island.
There’s a 4 point approach to Main Street Management for a reason. You can have an impeccably clean street with the best signage in town, but without a strong business climate no one is going to see it. And you can have great businesses, but the streets look like no one cares with sidewalks in disrepair and graffiti everywhere which will deter visitors. Or you could have strong businesses, and beautifully maintained streets, but no promotion, so no one knows all that’s there. What’s most important of all though, is having PEOPLE to work all 4 points, make sure the streets get cleaned, attract businesses and handle promotion and attract investors.
Ideally this is led through a Main Street Manager with the help of a core group of volunteers, but it can take time to build towards being able to afford paid staff. What’s important is to just start wherever it makes the most sense for your community, whether that’s organizing monthly volunteer-led clean-ups, finding a garden club to sponsor green spaces or organizing a community event. Just start somewhere!
The following job description for a Main Street Manager was informed through the work of Carl Rosa who was the Main Street Manager for downtown Waterbury, CT for 18 years. He had an annual budget of roughly $200K+, which supported his full time job, that of his part time associate, and their crew of 70-100 active volunteers.
Main Street Manager Job Description
A Main Street Manager is the champion of their Main Street or commercial district. What is outlined below is a job description for a Main Street Manager following the proven 4-point approach to Main Street Management organized around the key elements of economic vitality, design, promotion and organization.
ECONOMIC VITALITY
Building the economic vitality of a Main Street is what keeps businesses thriving, and is thus the glue that holds all of the other pieces of the Main Street puzzle together. Central to this work is interfacing with businesses and property owners and being the liaison between them and municipal officials and other key stakeholders, investors and residents of the community.
- Foster relationships with all the businesses and property owners along your Main Street, being on a first name basis with everyone.
- Act as a liaison between your businesses, property owners and municipal officials.
Graphic courtesy of the Connecticut Main Street Center.
- Hold monthly property owner meetings to keep them informed about what is happening at the municipal level and share any new challenges and opportunities you know of.
- Maintain a comprehensive inventory of all the available commercial spaces and who owns them
- Track market data for your Main Street new jobs created, lost, new businesses in and out
- Create a wish list of what you and your community would like to see on your Main Street to ensure a diversity of businesses that will attract customers. And then proactively recruit businesses in a targeted manner, and push property owners to sign leases in accordance to your strategy.
- Hold workshops, or otherwise connect business owners with entrepreneurial support organizations who can offer skill building and other tools.
- Understanding and promoting available incentives such as made possible through business improvement districts
- Supporting historic preservation opportunities
DESIGN
Maintaining a clean, safe, walkable and friendly environment through improving the physical characteristics of your Main Street is of key importance to the vitality of your Main Street.
- Ensure that sidewalks are cleaned and core infrastructure, such as sidewalk furniture and trash receptacles, are maintained. Part of this entails making sure that city ordinances are being enforced, particularly when it comes to snow removal.
- Encourage merchants to have enticing window displays, and help connect them to resources for facade improvement more generally.
- Facilitate opportunities to incorporate public art into your Main Street to activate the street through placemaking, and have a plan for maintaining these works of public art
- Inventory all of your parking options, and manage and promote these options
- Signage and wayfinding development
- Oversee the green spaces within your Main Street, understanding who has responsibility for them and ensuring the work maintaining them gets done.
PROMOTION
Incredible things may be happening on your Main Street, but if you’re not promoting your Main Street, few may know all that it has to offer which translates into a loss of revenue for your community. Promotion involves a lot more than running advertisements in your local paper. Instead it might look like:
- Coordinate events to attract people to your Main Street and help with fundraising efforts.
- Create business directories and guides, that are either printed and / or digitally shared
- Develop branding strategies that are reflected on poll banners, signage and other communications.
- Manage all communication channels from newsletters to social media, as well as other public relation activities, promoting your merchants and events.
ORGANIZATION
The organization of a successful Main Street initiative provides the foundation which is necessary for all other elements of a Main Street effort to exist. Central to organization is PEOPLE, and none of the work outlined thus far can be accomplished without the support a strong team can provide. Investing in the organization behind your Main Street looks like:
- Oversee and implement an ongoing strategic planning effort to move your Main Street forward
- Engage in fundraising efforts to support you, your staff and programs through a diverse fundraising strategy that might involve events, grant opportunities, sponsorships and / or donations.
- Recruit and manage a strong group of volunteers to support your Main Street goals. Consider creating a committee made up of volunteers for each of the 4 points of the Main Street Approach to help implement the work of your Main Street program.
PRO TIP: track your volunteer hours! You can leverage volunteer efforts towards several grant opportunities. According to the Independent Sector publication, volunteers in Rhode Island are worth $36.34 / hr. - Develop and train a strong and active Board and ensure the fiscal integrity of the organization behind your Main Street.
Clearly the job of a Main Street Manager is demanding and multi-faceted. A good Main Street Manager is a people person, with strong customer service, fundraising, communication and relationship building skills. They are strategic and visionary thinkers who can think big about the possibilities of their Main Street. They are energetic, willing to roll up their sleeves to get the work done and make Main Street magic happen!
And clearly there’s a ton of work for a Main Street Manager to do – the more your community invests in such work though, the greater the payoff will be!