NOW IS THE TIME TO SCALE DEEP
WITH SMALL BUSINESSES

May 11  |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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Harvard Business Review research shows that we can create bigger, more lasting impacts on wealth creation and sustainable economic growth in our community by investing in slower growing local small businesses versus the quick hit venture capital strategy. This means that our smaller cities and towns have a competitive advantage to building vibrant and lasting local economies. But the steps to get there are different from what we did before. Join this webinar to discuss why this is an essential strategy - for your local economy, your downtown, and your community.

The webinar takeaway will be learning the top 5 actions to implement to secure this strategy and hear why North Carolina towns, along with their manufacturing history, are positioned for success.

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Ilana Preuss

Business Counselor

Recast City LLC

​CIVIC PRIDE & CIVIC APATHY – WHAT
IS DRIVING YOUR ECONOMIC STATE?

June 8  |  10 - 11:00 AM

Live Webinar

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Thousands of communities have been devastated by the effects of apathy and unless we do something drastic, the problem is only going to get worse. Apathy destroys everything it touches and cannot be mitigated with planning or money. Residents' lack of care and concern cannot be fixed by continuing down the same path. We must take a new approach and help restore people’s relationship to their town. Only in fostering a sense of civic pride, can we begin to beat back the effects of apathy. 

We must bring people together, restore beauty, foster affection, and give people more meaning. By taking a small scale, simple and incremental approach, we can begin to replace apathy with pride. The key is getting to work. There is no silver bullet needed and no one is going to come along and fix it for us. We simply must do our part, every resident, every day, taking part in making the community just a little bit better. When everyone participates, we can all have something truly special, a community we can be proud of. 

Jeff Siegler

Revitalize or Die

Proud Places

DESTINATION CREATION IN ANY SIZE COMMUNITY: ONE BUSINESS AT A TIME

July 27  |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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In this webinar, Destination Business Expert Jon Schallert will show why communities large and small are refocusing their efforts to create, attract, and support Destination Businesses in their marketplaces. After the workshop, Jon will take questions from the attendees.

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Attendees will learn:

• The seven (7) different types of businesses that can become Destinations for Consumers, capable of pulling both locals and out‐of‐town consumers to spend their dollars in your community.

• The four (4) primary reasons communities prefer to have Destination Businesses in their local trade area.

• The one (1) customer‐attraction tool that could be utilized by every business in your city or town but usually isn’t, and why it costs your community thousands of dollars in tax revenue every year.

Jon Schallert

Destination Business Expert

THE 12 ADVANTAGES OF A DESTINATION BUSINESS IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND HOW TO NURTURE ONE

September 21 |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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In this webinar, Destination Business Expert Jon Schallert will explain why the most advantageous businesses any community can possess are Destination Businesses, capable of pulling customers from hours away. After the workshop, Jon will take questions from the attendees.

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Attendees will learn:

• How developing Destination Businesses in your community can be the easiest way to change an entire marketplace The 3 consumer groups that every community should be concerned about attracting

• How any city or town can minimize its marketing expenditures with a process that is 12 times more powerful than any form of advertising

• How to target and attract the most profitable consumers to your community while reducing your marketing costs by 93%

Jon Schallert

Destination Business Expert

A COMMUNITY GUIDE TO BUSINESS RECRUITMENT

September 14  |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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While the pandemic may be in our rearview mirror, many communities are struggling to regain momentum and attract new commercial activity to their downtown. Learn proven strategies that local governments and downtown volunteers can use to attract new investment to their downtown and fill vacant or underutilized spaces.

Hilary Greenberg (Greenberg Development Services), author of “A Downtown Economic Developer’s Guide to Business Recruitment” will present steps that towns of all sizes can take to recruit new businesses and put buildings back in service. The guide was published by the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center at the N.C Department of Commerce and is available for download.

Hilary Greenberg

Greenberg Development Services

PLACE MAKING, PLACE KEEPING & THE POWER OF 10: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO CREATE GREAT PLACES

May 25  |  10 - 11:00 AM

Live Webinar

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Harvard Business Review research Creating a place where people want to be is a key economic driver for places of all sizes. People have options on where to live, and people of all ages are looking authentic spaces that draw them in and encourage them to return. Regardless of your budget or the size of your community, you can add elements that offer a unique experience that encourages social interaction that can and evoke positive memories. Placemaking also has a role in building bridges in effort to make places more equitable and inclusive.

Hear from one of the most influential urban thinkers today, Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, about these practices, why they are so important, and how you can interject placemaking concepts into your existing and future spaces and places.

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Mitchell J. Silver

Vice President of Urban Planning with McAdams

FOSTERING PUBLIC - PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

June 29  |  10 - 11 AM

Live Webinar

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In an era of economic uncertainty, many communities struggle to attract the right style and density of development necessary to revitalize main street corridors. Communities must foster a more robust public/private partnership portfolio to correct this issue.

This webinar will focus on how each community can cultivate strong PPP relationships, increase trust and responsibility among parties, drive economic initiatives, and provide measurable key performance indicators (KPIs). The delivery of this webinar will focus on two aspects. The first portion will provide background information about building substantial PPP’s. The latter half will provide a toolkit of actionable items each person can use in their communities, regardless of population.

Ben Levenger

President

Downtown Redevelopment Services

BUILDING HEALTHY PLACES

August 17  |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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Many factors affect human health, including genetics, personal behavior, and medical care, but this workshop will explore the relationship between health and the built environment. It will look at the many ways that the design of our buildings and communities affects our physical health and mental well-being. In many places, physical activity, once part of our everyday lives, has been designed out of our daily routines.

This webinar will examine what communities can do to create healthier buildings and neighborhoods. It will set out fundamental principles for building healthy places and showcase numerous examples of what both builders and local communities are doing to make healthy choices easy and more profitable.

Ed McMahon

Senior Resident Fellow

Urban Land Institute

THE POWER OF PLACE

October 5  |  10 - 11 AM

Live Webinar

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When we think of placemaking, we typically imagine how we dress up our favorite public space, but the concept of place is so much bigger. Place is ubiquitous. It affects everything we do, and it is one of the largest determinants of the type of life we lead. We are always surrounded by place. How places are built, how they function, and how they are designed dictate how people go about leading their lives.

Our places have the ability to make us proud or make us feel ashamed. They can bring us closer to one another or make us feel alone. The places we shape, determine our physical, mental, social, and economic health. In understanding how much our places shape our lives; we begin to understand how much better we need to do in shaping our places. This session will lay out why we should focus all our efforts on place and how we can transform a community simply by upgrading the surroundings.

Jeff Siegler

Revitalize or Die

Proud Places

A COMMUNITY'S GUIDE TO BUSINESS RETENTION & EXPANSION

June 1  |  10 - 11:30 AM

Live Webinar

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Local businesses aren’t just “in” your community-they are your community. Learn how local governments and downtown volunteers can work together to develop stronger business retention and expansion programs that can attract and support small business activity in the downtown.

Hilary Greenberg (Greenberg Development Services), author of “A Downtown Economic Developer’s Guide for Building Stronger Economic Vitality through Business Retention and Expansion Activities” will present steps that towns of all sizes can take to help existing businesses stay in business and expand their goods and services. The guide was published by the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center at the N.C Department of Commerce and is available for download.

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Hilary Greenberg

Greenberg Development Services

NEW DATA INSIGHTS ON MAIN STREET RESILIENCY AND RECOVERY

July 13  |  10 - 11 AM

Live Webinar

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Where do your businesses on Main Street stand today? Jon Stover and his firm, JS&A, use emerging new data sources to assess retail trends and changes in customer spending in cities and downtowns across the country. This interactive session will share our findings and identify key takeaways for Main Street and municipal leadership to know about where their businesses stand as we emerge from the pandemic.

Importantly, we will discuss opportunities for businesses moving forward and ways that local programs and other partners can aid in local recovery efforts. And finally, we will help articulate Main Street’s impact on local economic resiliency and how communities can leverage existing information to build awareness and secure additional financial support.

Jon Stover

Founder and Managing Partner

Jon Stover & Associates

10 CRITICAL ELEMENTS THAT WILL MAKE TOMORROW’S COMMUNITIES

September 7  |  10 - 11 AM

Live Webinar

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The world has changed, and consumer preferences have changed with it. People are reconsidering the definition of home, where they live, how they live, how they interact when using technology, and so much more. This session will provide insights into the future that should impact how to plan, design, and develop tomorrow's communities. Hear from a nationally renowned urban thinker, Mitchell Silver, about the ten critical elements you need to know about to prepare for tomorrow.

Mitchell J. Silver

Vice President of Urban Planning with McAdams

MASTER PLANNING ON
A BUDGET

November 2  |  10 - 11 AM

Live Webinar

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Every community is unique, requiring a specific planning process to ensure the community gets a valuable and implementable plan document to follow and utilize. In this webinar, you will obtain information on identifying your downtown planning needs, highlighting, or prioritizing necessary plan elements, and associating applicable costs or budgets to each task. Additionally, this webinar will discuss preparing Request for Proposal documents, soliciting proposals, and conducting a fair or equitable solicitation and review.

The information learned will help streamline the planning process and ensure that each community has a plan that meets their individual needs, not just a copy of what the neighboring community received.

Ben Levenger

President

Downtown Redevelopment Services