About

City Center Waco 2022-2023 Board of Directors

Board Members:

Bernadette Hookham
Everett Phipps
Andrea Kosar
Ben Lacy
Carla Dotson
Cuevas Peacock
Dillon Meek
Eddy Garcia
Fernando Arroyo
George Chase
John Bible
John Calaway
Patricia Miller
Linda Weaver
Malcolm Duncan
Angela Tekell
Eddie Hernandez

Staff:

Executive Director: Africa Tarver

Julie Shelton

CITY CENTER WACO — MAIN STREET

Program:

Waco was selected as a Main Street community in 2014. Waco Main Street joins approximately 90 other downtown and commercial districts in Texas all using Main Street’s proven four-point approach to commercial district revitalization. Waco is a proud affiliate member of the state and national network of main street communities.

What is Main Street? – A Grassroots Network

Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities and urban commercial districts like Waco, the thousands of organizations, individuals, volunteers and local leaders that make up Main Street America™ represent the broad diversity that makes this country so unique. Working together, the Main Street America Network helps to breathe new life into the places people call home.

The Heart of Communities

The Main Street movement grew out of a recognition that a community is only as strong as its core. In an era when many people had given up hope about the commercial and cultural viability of downtown, and when suburbs, shopping malls and big box retailers were dominating the American landscape, this seemed like an unlikely proposition. But, over the last four decades, the Main Street movement has proven that downtowns are the heart of our communities.

A Movement of Community Changemakers

Main Street empowers communities to set their own destinies. While revitalization is challenging work, the Main Street program offers a road-map for locally-owned, locally-driven prosperity. Across the country, thousands of communities have used the Main Street Approach to transform their economies, leverage local leadership and improve overall quality of life.

Main Street Fundamentals

The Main Street Approach is centered around Transformation Strategies. A Transformation Strategy articulates a focused, deliberate path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown or commercial district’s economy. A program’s work on Transformation Strategies should be organized around the Four Points: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion and Organization. A revitalization program’s work—and its Transformation Strategies—need to be informed by a solid understanding of local and regional market data and sustained, inclusive community engagement.

The Four-Point Approach

Successful downtown revitalization doesn’t occur due to one strategy or action. It takes targeted, concerted effort in the four general categories below. We have volunteer committees that concentrate on each of these Four Points.

ECONOMIC VITALITY focuses on capital, incentives and other economic and financial tools to assist new and existing businesses, catalyze property development and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators that drive local economies.

DESIGN supports a community’s transformation by enhancing the physical and visual assets that set the commercial district apart.

PROMOTION positions the downtown or commercial district as the center of the community and hub of economic activity while creating a positive image that showcases a community’s unique characteristics.

ORGANIZATION involves creating a strong foundation for a sustainable revitalization effort, including cultivating partnerships, community involvement and resources for the district.

 

To see a list of Main Street communities across the nation, or to learn more about Main Street America, visit www.mainstreet.org.

Small Business Support Program