City Center Waco 2023-2024 Board of Directors
Board Members:
Ben Lacy
Everett Phipps
Andrea Kosar
Dominique Bolts
John Calaway
Chris McGowan
Connie Lozano
Weldon Gooden
George Chase
Linda Weaver
Mayor Dillion Meek
Carla Dotson
John Bible
Staff:
Executive Director: Africa Tarver
Office Manager: Helga Garay
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
The City of Waco proposes to utilize a significant portion of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to support small businesses. Additionally, the City Manager will be adding TIF and General Fund resources to support small businesses in historically blighted commercial corridors. These programs would represent the largest investment in small business ever made by the City of Waco. This is a recognition of the dedicated and hard-working people that keep the Waco economy moving and attempts to reduce the impacts of COVID-19, construction, and long-term blight on our community. For more details, please visit: www.weallwinwaco.com