The heart of a small town has historically been the downtown area. Years ago, local citizens would shop and gather in the business district on a regular basis. However, in recent years, some of these small downtown areas have struggled to maintain their infrastructure and support business as it has become more common for residents to travel to both work and shop in other, larger areas.
Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) is a not-for-profit agency that works hand-in-hand with small communities across our state to help return them to their original splendor, while boosting the economy by offering programs to make restoration of the buildings and the areas’ image affordable to small towns, including several in the 21st District.
While the MMSC was started as a Missouri Department of Economic Development program in 1989, it became its own entity, run by a board of governors who work with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Trust’s Main Street Center. The group also brings the expertise of the Missouri Alliance for Preservation to communities in Missouri that are working to revitalize their downtowns.
The Main Street Program allows communities to learn how to do needed work, serving as a source for the latest information in development and preservation through a variety of events held across the state. The program is funded, in part, by community members, grants and local government. Each Main Street Program is responsible for securing funding, which should come from a variety of both public and private sources and show strong partnerships.
This summer, MMSC presented downtown awards that recognize revitalization excellence during the annual Missouri Main Street Conference in Kansas City. The Chillicothe area received awards for three projects, including Sliced Bread Saturday, the Adam Warren Law Office facade rehabilitation, and Main Street Holiday House Store. Warrensburg’s Salon Vogue won an award for the Best Large-Scale Project. Since 2012, several revitalized downtown areas have won awards from the 21st District.
The far-reaching efforts of this group have helped several communities in our state, and have helped to start new businesses and revitalize not only the physical buildings of these downtown areas, but also the economy. Missouri Main Street Connection has served 178 communities across the state. Those communities have created 432 new businesses and more than 2,600 new jobs. Based on economic data since 2006, $668 million of private investments have been made in the Main Street communities. For every dollar appropriated to MMSC by the state of Missouri, $1,857 of private investments were made. Investments by local governments have totaled $127.9 million in improvements to infrastructure.
My goal as senator is to make sure that our downtowns are returned the splendors of yesteryear and I encourage community leaders and citizens to explore the possibilities of working to rebuild their downtowns aesthetically and economically.
As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at (866) 277-0882 (toll-free) or (573) 751-2272, or by fax at (573) 526-7381.
Senator David Pearce serves Caldwell, Carroll, Howard, Johnson, Lafayette, Livingston, Ray and Saline counties in the 21st State Senatorial District. |
