This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

We Are Saline Main Street! Now What??

What can we expect from the Michigan Main Street Center and what are they expecting from us now that we are part of the state and national network of Main Street communities?

In a press release last week, Governor Rick Snyder announced that the community of Saline was selected by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to take part in the.

As a full-fledged Michigan Main Street community, Saline will receive five years of intensive technical assistance, through the Michigan Main Street program, with a focus on revitalization strategies designed to attract new residents, business investment, economic growth and job creation to their central business district.

“The Michigan Main Street program will help Saline create opportunities for redevelopment, placemaking and economic growth just as it has in downtowns throughout Michigan,” Governor Snyder said. “Vibrant communities and downtowns are critical as we look to help local businesses grow, attract new investment and retain and attract the talent that is needed to reinvent Michigan.”

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So, what is next? 

The Michigan Main Street Center has given us a ‘To Do’ list of activities that we will be scheduling throughout our first year. The document is lengthy so we will split this into two blog posts.

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They include:

  • An Orientation on March 7 (All board members and volunteers)  to go over the provided services and schedule for the year
  • Manager Selection Service- Michigan Main Street staff will be available to assist with all aspects of the Main Street Manager selection process
  • Community Announcement – Week of March 20th.  This is an onsite press conference announcing Saline being named a Michigan Main Street community.  All are welcome.  Date and time will be announced soon.
  • Base Line Assessment- is an evaluative service to introduce and explain the Main Street program to the community and to review and assess the progress the community made in establishing and developing the local Main Street program. This visit is designed to assist each community in determining the best strategies in organizing its Main Street program. National consultants will be here to assist in this Assessment.
  • Board Training- Covers the board’s primary legal and programmatic responsibilities, individual responsibilities, function of staff and keys to creating and maintaining a healthy organization.
  • Individual Committee Training – Works with members of all four committees/teams and covers committee roles and responsibilities; committee interaction with staff; and techniques for committee effectiveness, interaction, budgeting and project development
  • Work Plan Development – Workshop design to assist Main Street committees/team to develop their work plans and learn the work planning process.  The ‘Work Plan’ is intended to be an implementation document detailing specific goals, objectives, budgets and activities with benchmarks for measuring achievements.  Each of the four committees is required to have a work plan.

This is only PART of the first year services!  We will cover the rest of the services for the first year in the next blog.

As you can see, the training is going to be phenomenal and will help us build a sustainable and actionable organization to preserve and enhance our downtown core!

If you are interested in volunteering in any way, please let us know so that you will be able to attend the training sessions. The email address is salinemainstreetMI@gmail.com

Thank you once again for all who helped in any way throughout our Route ’12 to Main Street campaign.  We will officially transition that name to Saline Main Street!

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