The Magee Community House was the site of a Main Street Magee Lunch & Learn on April 22, offering information about the Mississippi Main Street, a state and nationwide program available to assist efforts to revitalize downtowns.
Presenters for this event were MMS Executive Director Jim Miller and Jennifer Lay, MMS Director of Community Development. Several city and county public officials were present at the nearly standing room only lunch, which over 100 people attended.
Originally launched in 1980, it became Main Street America in 2015. Mississippi Main Street Association was founded in 1984 with original partners MS Development Authority, MS Department of Archives & History, and MS State University Small Town Center.
Headquartered in Jackson, Miss., Mississippi Main Street boasts 80 plus participating communities across the state, including Magee.
The organization proclaims that their mission is “to be a catalyst for the preservation and economic revitalization of Mississippi’s historic downtowns and traditional commercial districts.” Towns work through three levels: associate, network and designated. Magee is at network level, working toward designated. According to a Magee Main Street Facebook post, “Main Street is a unique, grassroots approach to revitalization—designed to empower communities like ours to shape their own future.”
Miller offered initial comments on the history of the organization, saying that the success of any Main Street program relies upon the community and individual small businesses investment. He addressed the decline of the downtown area in general before moving into what towns may do to combat that decline.
Miller listed eight guiding principles for successful plans: comprehensive; incremental; community driven; public/private partnerships; asset identification and capitalization; quality; change; and, implementation oriented.
Lay took over the presentation to discuss the specifics of community transformation, which includes four different areas: organization, design, economic vitality and promotion. She gave specifics required for success in each area for the overall success of the implementation of a Main Street program for downtown preservation. One example Lay used was advertising dollars. Rather than one small business spend their advertising budget for the year, several should combine their dollars and advertise together to draw in visitors, she said.
Miller and Lay offered extensive information in a short amount of time but all of it crucial to the success of Main Street Magee.
Local members of MMS are Tiffany Kinslow, executive director; Chris Purdum, president; Lee Maddox, vice president; Christin Curlee, secretary; and Amanda Blakeney, treasurer. Board members are Skip Russell, Phillip Peacock, Allyson Berch, Allison Clark and Merika Kalman.
For more information call 601-382-1179 or send a message to their Facebook page, Main Street Magee.
