Newton Selected to Join Main Street Program
Newton selected to join Main Street program
Post Date:04/11/2022 11:05 AM – https://www.newtonkansas.com/Home/Components/News/News/3047/
Gov. Laura Kelly has announced the selection of Newton, along with Valley Center, Topeka and Eureka, as the newest members of Kansas Main Street. The program offers training, technical assistance, and access to networking and grant opportunities for downtown revitalization.
The Governor’s Office noted the vision and commitment that the cities have already demonstrated for promoting and developing their downtowns.
“When our main street businesses succeed, our economy succeeds,” Kelly said. “That’s why my administration restarted the Kansas Main Street Program in 2019 – to help our communities reinvest in our small businesses, recruit new families to our state, and grow our economy. The program’s expansion is further proof of its success, and I’m pleased to welcome these four additional communities.”
“We love our downtown in Newton,” said City Commissioner Rod Kreie, a member of the Choose Newton Development Commission. “It’s one of the things that sets us apart from the more suburban communities in our region. Our historic buildings and unique local businesses are such an asset, and this designation will allow us to capitalize on downtown even more.”
Newton participated in a competitive application process to be one of four cities selected for the program. Kansas Main Street is a self-help technical assistance program focused on preservation and revitalization of downtown districts based on four points of organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring.
City of Newton Director of Administrative Services Rebecca Likiardopoulos said that Kansas Main Street will be another tool that the City, Chamber of Commerce, property owners, businesses and others can use to help revitalize downtown.
“In our community we are already doing many of these activities, so our proposal is to work better together and add value by coordinating all the organizations,” Likiardopoulos said. “Communities with a Main Street program have an average return on investment of $27 to every dollar invested, so we expect to see tremendous value.”
The Main Street program was relaunched in Kansas by the Department of Commerce in 2019. With the four new cities included, there are now 32 designated Main Street communities in the state.
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