posted on May 25, 2010 13:55
By Jamie Schriner-Hooper
Organization Specialist
Michigan Main Street Center
Michigan State Housing Development Authority
Over the course of the last several weeks, the Michigan Main Street Center @ MSHDA (MMSC) has been receiving applications for communities to join the Michigan Main Street program. Just before the cut-off at 4pm on Friday, May 7, we had a flurry of applications come in – the last being at 3:58! While this may seem like procrastination to some, getting to the point of turning in a Main Street application process is a long process and certainly not one to be taken lightly.
We have a number of new communities who have applied for the Associate Level. If accepted, these communities will spend the next year bringing volunteers to Selected and Master Level Michigan Main Street communities and learning from both MMSC staff and the communities themselves the pros and cons to a local program, as well as how they actually get things done. Once they complete all trainings and requirements at the Associate Level, they’re eligible to apply for the Selected Level.
For our four potential, new, Selected Level communities, they submitted their Letter of Interest in early March, received the application, and spent the last two months furiously gathering volunteer groups to assemble the necessary information to be included in their application. For those of you who are not familiar with the Selected Level application, it is a process, but a process with a meaning behind it. As a Main Street program, communities must work together as volunteers with different backgrounds, different areas of expertise, different ages and more. However, the one thing that they all have in common is that that want to improve and revitalize their downtown or neighborhood commercial district. As a first step, this group must learn to work together and utilize their many skills to complete a beast of an application to become a Selected Level Main Street community. Of course, the inevitable will happen: the copy machine breaks down, a volunteer spends the program’s scarce money and time making seventeen copies of a portion of the application that has already been copied (yes, that happened to me), the MSHDA office seems to be hidden away where a desperate volunteer going on two hours of sleep can’t find it to drop off the application. Yes, we’ve all been there and can truly empathize with the applying communities.
As someone who’s been on both sides of the process – as the director of a community applying to be designated as a Selected Level Michigan Main Street community, as well as now a MMSC staff member – I have a unique perspective on what the communities are going through to get to the point of actually turning in an application. I now know from MMSC’s perspective what the questions listed in the application are trying to pull from the communities, but also know how the communities read the questions. I had many a late night trying to gather information for the application, sending volunteers out to take photos, visit the assessor’s office, scouring through census data, creating a budget and more. At times, I wondered if the applications were an exercise of futility, cursing the creator of said application! However, once the application was completed and the community became a member of the Selected Level, I referred back to the application and the information gathered on at least a weekly basis. Communities also have a starting point for several committee projects based on information gathered for the application and soon see what a resource they’ve created.
Currently, communities are waiting for MMSC staff and the Michigan Main Street Advisory Committee to finish the review process of the applications. At the Selected Level, this includes a site visit to the applying communities, as well as a presentation in front of the advisory committee. As an applying community, I was given the advice that during the presentation, nothing was off limits. And, above everything else, be creative in showing off what’s unique about your community. For me, that meant a local musician singing a song that painted a very shall we say “interesting” perspective of the neighborhood, several animals, including a dog in a stroller and a parrot, signs, enthusiasm, food, and most of all, the members of the community and their enthusiasm. After about a month of nail biting, we heard that we were accepted and the journey began.
The communities currently going through the application process are to be commended for taking this huge, first step. Main Street is a long-term program and not a quick fix. There will be ups and downs, but the first time you’re able to take a step back, see volunteers working together as a team and improving the community, the value of Main Street is evident. Congratulations to the communities who came together to take this first step. And, above everything else, thank you for your efforts. The MMSC staff and Michigan Main Street communities look forward to seeing all that the future will bring!