Downtown Strong Grant June Update: Excelsior Springs - Partnerships Make It Happen!
June 30, 2022 | MO Main Street
The Downtown Strong: Building Resilient Economies grant is a grant provided by the U.S. Economic Development Administration through Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) that continues to impact Missouri communities. During the application phase of this grant, the Downtown Excelsior Partnership saw this as their opportunity to apply for assistance, and thought outside the box to consider how they could leverage current activities, additional funds, momentum, and partnerships to get the most out of the Downtown Strong Grant. As a result, Downtown Excelsior Springs received two unique services that will assist in gaining new businesses, utilizing empty properties, and directing people to all downtown businesses.
Excelsior Springs is a naturally beautiful city, with reminders of the City’s historic mineral water resources reflected both inside the city and in its surroundings. Because of these influences, the street layout is unique resulting in many businesses being located off the main corridors but within the downtown Excelsior Springs district. Downtown Excelsior Partnership’s first service was to find solutions to showcase the downtown businesses located on these side streets. This is being accomplished through developing a Wayfinding Plan that could outline their signage needs and layout, with a strategic focus on making sure people knew where the businesses are and how to get to them. This was due to their current signage’s limitations and narrower focus which didn’t necessarily direct people to businesses and parking. Through the grant, the Downtown Excelsior Partnership and its volunteers are working with Fora Planning and the City of Excelsior Springs to develop a plan that everyone can utilize, and that the city will help implement.
Downtown Excelsior Partnership has also been able to updated their Market Analysis and built a Real Estate Development Strategy including business recruitment ideas with their second service. These services were completed by Joe Borgstrom of Place + Main. Both of these enhance Downtown Excelsior Partnership’s ability to strategically impact their downtown’s economic base by knowing the needs and having a plan to address them. Then, Downtown Excelsior Partnership took these plans and invested, through additional funding with the City of Excelsior Springs’ grant program, in developing the plans further through Joe Borgstrom to provide in-depth market analysis, detail strategies on improving business and real estate development, and finally, provide strategies to develop and recruit business specifically for some of their high-profile empty buildings.
Leveraging their resources and building partnerships allowed the Downtown Excelsior Partnership to multiply their results from this grant! These plans will realize results into the future as they continue to be utilized by every entity involved. Leveraging, diversified budgeting, and utilizing available resources is integral to how local Main Streets continue to have extraordinary and long-lasting impacts in their communities. Without opportunities like the Downtown Strong: Building Resilient Economies grant and many others, that 501(c)3 nonprofit main street organizations can apply for, many communities would not have the capitol or equity to access community-saving services or implement community revitalizing strategies.
The services included in this article were prepared by Missouri Main Street Connection, Inc. using Federal funds under award 05-79-06056 from Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.
