Overview and Process

Main Street First Impressions Program

Overview and Process

 

 

Program Overview:

 

The Main Street First Impressions Program is designed to gather insights that will assist you in downtown planning and goal setting efforts.  Through the program you will access a visitor’s reactions to previous planning efforts in your downtown.  These insights, provided to you in the form of a written report and presentation, can help in evaluating the effectiveness of your Main Street Program.  You will be paired with another, similar Main Street community that is also interested in obtaining information on the effectiveness of their improvement efforts.  Each of you will identify a team of volunteers who will visit the other community anonymously and complete a survey of their impressions.

 

The information provided to you through the Main Street First Impressions process will help to:

 

·        Evaluate the success of your development initiatives

 

·        Identify how to strengthen community services

 

·        Create an enhanced image to the outside world

 

·        Focus your development efforts

 

Downtown Ohio, Inc. will provide guidance to you through the implementation of this program.  Your program contact at DOI is:

 

                             Pauline Eaton, director of Downtown Revitalization

                             846 ½ East Main Street

                             Columbus, Ohio 43205

                             T) 614.258.6200

                             F) 614.258.6400

                             Email  peaton@heritageohio.org

 

The following are the steps and responsibilities for the Main Street First Impressions Program.

                            

 

 

Steps and Responsibilities in the Main Street First Impressions Process:

 

A.   Local Coordinator’s Responsibilities

 

The local Main Street organization will be the sponsor of the program and the Main Street Manager will be the local program coordinator.  In this role, they will have the responsibility to move the program forward including managing the process, choosing and training the visitation team, accompanying the team on their visit to the paired downtown, preparing and delivering the final report, and helping to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.  Specific steps and responsibilities are as follows:

 

1.                Formation of Visitation Team:

 

The coordinator will form a visitation team of 5 - 6 volunteer visitors.  Try for diversity in this team if possible; male/female, professional/lay person, political leader/community resident, young/mature.  The ideal mix would be that half of the team are professionals with knowledge of the Main Street approach and half are not.  Suggested types of individuals include:

 

Merchant

Elected Official

Residents at large (2)

Board Member/volunteer from working committee

Downtown Coordinator

 

2.                Develop Local Questions:

 

Each community will have the option of developing three local questions for the survey and it is the responsibility of the local coordinator to facilitate this task.  Ask questions that will give you information on issues of importance to your downtown, but are not already included in the survey. Indicate with each question if they are intended for inclusion in the walking or driving section of the survey.  If you choose to develop these local questions, provide them to your DOI contact as soon as possible and she will develop and send to you a final master copy of the survey with the local questions included.

 

3.                Visitation Team Training:

 

Train the visitation team on what is expected of them and acquaint them with the survey. 

 

4.                Take Pictures During Visit:

 

Make sure that at least one visitation team member brings a camera and takes pictures during their visit of points they want to emphasize.  These photographs will be submitted to the DOI contact, with a description of what they represent, along with the draft summary of the survey responses.

 

5.                Coordinate the Visit:

 

Coordinate the visit the community and accompany the team. Have each visitation team member fill out a survey and collect them after they are completed. We suggest you make the visit together as a group (carpool).  It makes for a more enjoyable experience and helps to ensure a better end result as well.  Plan to arrive around 10:00 a.m. and leave by 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.  This should allow sufficient time to complete your visit. Please refer to Volunteer Visitor Training for more detailed suggestions on your visit.

 

6.                Return Trip Questionnaire:

 

Discuss as a group and fill out the Return Trip Questionnaire on the trip home.  Collect these surveys for inclusion in the report to your paired downtown.

 

7.                Final Report and Presentation:

 

Write up the survey responses in report form and attach photographs.  Include the results of the Return Trip Questionnaire as an attachment.  Send this report to your DOI contact for their review and comment.  Design a presentation to share your results with the other Main Street Program.

 

8.                Presentation to Paired Main Street Community:

 

Present the survey results to the other Main Street Program and arrange for their presentation to you.  At least one of the volunteer visitors should be chosen to attend the report presentation with the coordinator.  Their role will be to assist the coordinator with the presentation and verify the team’s impressions.

 

9.                Evaluation:

 

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Main Street First Impressions Program and keep track of the follow-up that is generated.

 

B.   Downtown Ohio, Inc. responsibilities:

 

1.                Provide Information:

 

Provide your community with promotional materials and information listing the benefits and outlining the process of the Main Street First Impressions Program.  For those who have email capability, a brochure will be sent as an attachment in Word Perfect.  If you cannot receive it that way an original hard copy of the brochure, suitable for duplicating, will be sent by mail.

    

2.                Pair Main Street Communities:

 

Pair your community with another, suitable, Main Street community.  Maintain scheduling between the communities so that final reports are available to each around the same time.

 

3.                Provide Materials and Guidance:

 

Provide the surveys and instructions for the visitation team.  Instruct the local coordinator on preparing the team for the visit.

 

4.                Review Surveys and Offer Program Assistance:

 

Once the survey results are completed they will be put into a final report format by the local coordinator and provided to the DOI contact for review.   The DOI contact will then forward the survey report to OSU Extension for their review and suggestions.  The DOI contact with OSU Extension input, will suggest strategies and programs that may help the Main Street in addressing the issues that arise from the report.   These suggestions will be offered as a written addendum to the report. The completed survey will be returned to the local coordinator for sharing with his/her community.

 

5.                Presentation Guidance:

 

Provide guidance to the local coordinator in the preparation of a presentation to the paired community.  Suggestions regarding the presentation approach and points to cover will be provided by the DOI contact to the local coordinator.

 

6.                Follow-Up Evaluation:

 

Conduct a follow-up survey of the sponsoring organization and local coordinator to determine the usage and long-term effectiveness of the Main Street First Impressions Program in your downtown.