Course Descriptions

Building a healthy organizational foundation is key to attracting engagement and investment for your commercial district revitalization efforts. Whether you are positioned in a long-standing program or starting anew, Advanced Principles of Sustainable Organization will give you tools in three key areas to strengthen your organization. In this course, you will learn to:

• Define and share your organization’s message with key stakeholder to expand your reach.
• Foster active community engagement through a solid volunteer development program.
• Understand how to develop a diverse funding structure and alignment of resources.

Engaging, effective design improves the district’s physical elements while preserving unique character and enhances a sense of place for all those who live, work, or visit. From the basics of downtown design to comprehensive planning, join Advanced Principles of Quality Design to learn:

• The role and value of design and historic preservation in commercial district revitalization.
• Best practices in planning and enhancing the look and feel of the district.
• Assembling resources and innovative incentives to support your efforts.

How can your organization best position your commercial district program to catalyze the local economy? Let us show you the way! Join Advanced Principles of Economic Vitality for the key tools to strengthen and diversify the local economic base. This three-week course will build your skills to:

• Engage and work with existing stakeholders to lay strong foundations for economic vitality.
• Develop business retention, expansion and succession initiatives throughout the district.
• Identify opportunities for strategic use of space for business and real estate development.

Effective downtown promotions are much more than memorable events. Commercial district revitalization professionals need an ever-growing toolbox of marketing solutions. In Advanced Principles of Effective Promotion, gain the strategic insights to position your commercial district as the center of community activity, culture and local commerce. Join the course to:

• Identify and package the district’s unique position in the marketplace.
• Market your district’s assets and engage the community as stakeholders in your brand.
• Understand and communicate the role of events and their impact in revitalization.

Effective leaders demonstrate a great ability to influence people towards a common goal. For commercial district revitalization professionals, this means bringing diverse stakeholders together in the pursuit of community transformation. Elevate your focus and skill set as a revitalization leader through Advanced Principles of Leadership Development. In this three-week course, you will learn to:

• Understand the distinction between leadership and management and their important application in community-driven revitalization.
• Recognize the value of strategy and your role in defining strategic direction for your organization.
• Integrate strategy in your organizational structure to leverage resources, including people and build proactive partnerships to achieve measurable results.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A strong retail tenant mix is at the heart of a thriving commercial district. For commercial district practitioners, a clear strategy is essential to improve the retail concentration of districts and influence decision making processes of business and property owners.

In Getting Retail Ready, assess your district’s retail readiness and lay the groundwork for your tenant attraction plan. In this course, you will learn to:

• Diagnose district readiness for a retail attraction campaign and identify opportunities.
• Mobilize your district vision in cooperation with business and property owners.
• Celebrate success and evaluate your strategy.

Getting Retail Ready is a three-part, on-demand course taught by Larisa Ortiz, an expert in commercial district retail strategies who has worked in over one hundred communities, both nationally and internationally.

Register

At the heart of a thriving Main Street economy, independent businesses look to their commercial district programs for resources and support to attract and retain customers. Orchestrating a successful “shop local” campaign requires a vision and plan, as well as a boots-on-the-ground mentality to bring people together around it. In Promoting the Local Economy, learn how you can orchestrate a thriving shop local environment every day. You will learn to:

• Champion the power of the local economy through national trends and utilize local-level data to bring the message home.
• Organize your district’s strategy for participating in national-level and grassroots shop local campaigns.
• Work with businesses and entrepreneurs in your community to implement initiatives and measure success.

Promoting the Local Economy is a three-part, on-demand course instructed by Elissa Sangalli Hillary, President of Local First, a Grand Rapids, Michigan – based leader in the movement to create and sustain local wealth.

Register

For the leadership of a revitalization entity, one of the most important relationships for the success of the organization is between the board of directors and the executive director or Main Street manager. From a successful onboarding process to the ability to build positive communication lines, every executive director needs skills to work effectively with board members while simultaneously helping them define and implement strategic direction and oversight. In the three-part online course Strong Leadership Teams, join the Main street America’s Director of Leadership Development Norma Ramirez de Miess to:

• Utilize the Main Street Approach to highlight essential board roles and responsibilities in leading revitalization.
• Build a solid leadership base through appropriate onboarding, continued development, and confirmed stewardship.
• Develop a strong foundation for clear and positive communication -internally and externally-, and explore tools to address difficult situations.

Register

An essential piece of building a successful Main Street program or neighborhood commercial district entity is a robust, sustainable funding structure. From developing your prospects to making the approach and planning for growth, you need a solid understanding of the tools and best practices at your disposal. In Funding Revitalization Programs, take a deep dive into these methods to ensure sustainability for your program to:

• Understand the structures you should have in place to develop funding sources.
• Identify, target, and acquire funding through various sources.
• Manage funding sources to ensure programmatic sustainability.

Funding Revitalization Programs is taught by Donna Ann Harris, principal of Heritage Consulting, Inc., a consultant with over 20 years of experience in education, government, and non-profit programs.

Register

A good downtown or neighborhood commercial district plan can empower Main Street professionals to be intentional in how they approach design issues, from physical improvements to preservation and infill development. Initiating or participating in a planning process requires an understanding of the process, from leveraging resources and engaging stakeholders to aligning implementation steps with the Main Street Approach. Participating in Commercial District Planning, you will learn to:

• Advocate for your Main Street district’s needs as part of a comprehensive or commercial district planning process.
• Participate in the planning process as a commercial district professional through a solid understanding of terminology, timelines, and key players.
• Engage and work with municipal and community stakeholders to implement the plan and establish ongoing support.

Commercial District Planning is a three-part, on-demand course instructed by Nicholas Kalogeresis, a planning professional with over 25 years’ experience in planning for traditional commercial districts.

Register