By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A fairly new St. Joseph organization is focused on its piece of the pie in helping with development of buildings in downtown St. Joseph.
Main Street St. Joseph is modeled after the Main Street America program, focused on historic preservation and revitalization.
President of Main Street Dana Massin says the Main Street model has been successful across the United States and to follow that model the organization has to report several milestones to Main Street America.
"We have to report to them quarterly about the number of new businesses, the number of businesses we've lost, among many, many, other points of data, so it's a really data driven organization," Massin tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "So, we're, as a local organization we're two years old, we're still learning that model to some extent."
Massin says what this means for the organization is to learn that nationally proven main street model and apply it into the community, while working with other local organizations.
Main Street St. Joseph began in 2021, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Massin says while it had its challenges, there was no better time to start the Main Streed model than when the organization did.
"Because it's helping people come together, we've had a couple of different town halls, we're having numerous community small group meetings where we're talking about what does revitalize downtown look like," Massin says. "How does it reflect the culture that has been percolating these last many years and how do we amplify that?"
Massin says the world has changed quite a bit since 2019 and we're all looking for ways to reconnect with each other and redefine quality of life, which made it a great time to start the organization.
Massin says the Main Street program is a very data driven system. And that's why Massin says one project that Main Street St. Joseph has developed over its time has been a database of all St. Joseph buildings.
"This database is going to be a huge help to us in the years moving forward for planning," Massin explains. "It will allow us to demonstrate to our city council and to potential investors what it costs our community to have a vacant building."
Massin says the database, while something the community won't have visibility to, provides something that gives them clarity of what to work on.
Massin says the organization is also proud of the number of town halls they've held to work with the community and the outreach it has had.
