CenterPiece | Summer 2014

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PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

p8 | A Review of the First Decade in PA

by Julie Fitzpatrick

ISS007

SUMMER 2014

P6 | JOIN THE CROWD

P10 | EASTON

A closer look at crowdsourcing, by Mary Lee Stotler

An award-winning revitalization, by Stefan Klosowski

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Executive Director’s Corner 2014-2015: A Year for Cultivating Healthy Communities

by Bill Fontana

I

t may be hard to believe, but another fiscal year has come and gone and we all find ourselves in the early stages of a new PDC program year. This year we make a short transition from the 2013-2014 theme of Nature Based Placemaking to the related theme of “cultivating healthy communities.”

The healthy communities concept is a program area that has been gaining significant traction over the last several years. Consider the following: • The Urban Land Institute came out in 2013 with a new “Building Healthy Places Initiative” and has supported that initiative with a set of ten guiding principles.

• In 2013, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reconvened its Commission to Build a Healthier America with the express purpose of identifying actions that should be taken to support health in communities and during early childhood.

• The National Center for Environmental Health within the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has created a series of fact sheets and support materials related to the “designing and building of healthy places.”

• As early as April of 2002, the American Planning Association (APA) identified six qualities that describe healthy community design.

The CDC fact sheet on designing and building healthy places is particularly interesting. It asserts that community well-being may be enhanced by: • promoting revitalization and development that best uses existing infrastructure; • promoting the creation of mixed-use communities that integrate a range of housing and commercial services and serving a variety of income levels; • promoting bicycle- and pedestrian-oriented design; • preserving open spaces; and • encouraging brownfields clean-up and development to • invigorate urban centers, older suburbs and rural towns.

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Now if this sounds a lot like the Main Street and Elm Street mantra to you – good! You have been paying attention. What is more important, however is the fact that this emanates from the Centers for Disease Control, perhaps with a good dose of APA input. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report is even more telling. The report indicates that between 1980 and 2009, the U.S. fell from 15th place to 27th place in terms of total life expectancy, below Chile and just above the Czech Republic. The report goes on to state that nearly one in five residents of the United States live in “unhealthy neighborhoods that are marked by limited job opportunities, low-quality housing, pollution, limited access to healthy food and few opportunities for physical activity. This report, and others like it serves as wonderful call to arms for the work that we do. In particular the report call upon community development practitioners to make health improvement one of the goals or their (OUR) work. It suggests that we as a field of professionals need to seek out new partners and work to ensure that every investment we make, and particularly those that we make in low-income communities, promote our overall health and well-being.

For some time now, we have been talking about the need for greater integration and coordination of our Main Street and Elm Street programs. It strikes me that the healthy communities initiative could become the area that facilitates that greater coordination. Not only does this effort provide Main Street and Elm Street managers a common vision around which to rally, it also opens the door to a whole new range of partnerships and potential funding sources for the work that we do. Consider that several years ago, the State of Maine received a sizable grant from the Centers for Disease Control for its pedestrian-oriented efforts, which the CDC saw as helping to create a better walking environment and a healthier community.

And so we need to jump into this issue with both feet. Connecting with our local planners, our local food service providers and farmers markets and with our local health care systems, we all need to begin digging in to make the U.S. a healthier place. I for one am looking forward to establishing new partnerships and providing new levels of support to improve the health of our towns.

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

news & updates

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A New Fiscal Year Brings New Faces to the PDC Board

addition to these new board members, the PDC corporate ith the start of the 2014-2015 Inofficers for 2014-2015 include: fiscal year, PDC said good-bye to two, long-term board members PDC Board Chair Rockey and hello to five new ones. Leaving the Chris Vice-President for Community Banking at PNC Bank, Mr. Rockey brings a wealth of private sector leadership to the role as PDC board are: chairman of the PDC Board of Directors Jane Conover Jane had completed her six year term as a PDC Board Vice Chair PDC board member and her second year as PDC Board Chair.

Larry Newman Jane will always have the distinction of being the first Elm Street manager to serve as both a board member and as PDC board chair. Jane will continue on the Executive Committee in a nonvoting, ex-officio role for one year.

Kim Kmetz Also leaving the PDC board after completing

her two three year terms is Kim Kmetz, Easton’s outstanding Main Street Manager. Kim was a constant voice supporting the position of Main Street and Elm Street Managers on the PDC board.

Joining the PDC board in 2014-2015 are five new faces including:

Susan Kefover Hailing from Coudersport, Susan

Kefover is a Potter County Commissioner and a long time champion of community revitalization along Route 6. Susan is a graduate of Lock Haven University.

Blanda Nace Blanda is the Senior Manager of

Development at the York Economic Alliance and recently took over as the new Main Street Manager in Hanover, York County.

Blanda has a degree in Engineering from Penn State’s Middletown campus.

Naomi Naylor Naomi is the current Main Street Manager

in Quakertown, Bucks County. Naomi brings strong development and fundraising skills to the PDC board and will be a strong voice for eastern PA. Naomi is working on her degree in counseling from Philadelphia Biblical University.

Mr. Newman is the Executive Director of the Diamond City Partnership, organization that oversees the Wilkes-Barre business improvement district. Larry is an architect by profession

PDC Treasurer Diane Sandstrom

Diane serves as the Associate State Director – Program Management of the PA Small Business Development Centers.

Diane continues a long line of close working relationships between PDC and the SBDCs.

PDC Corporate Secretary Sloan Auchincloss

Sloan is a retired marketing professional from Harrisburg. He has served as chairperson of PDC’s External Operations Committee for the past year where he provided oversight to PDC’s marketing, membership and development functions. Sloan also has a strong philanthropic background.

At Large Representative Andy Walker

Rounding out the voting members of the Executive Committee for this fiscal year is Meadville City Manager Andy Walker. Andy has a long history of service in both the governmental and nonprofit sector and served previously as Main Street Manager in Meadville.

James Rodriguez James comes to the PDC board as

a business consultant and WEDnetPA Coordinator, located in the Small Business Development Center at Kutztown University.

James is also a graduate of Kutztown, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration in 2012.

Brenda Sandberg Brenda is the Director of Economic

and Community Development for the City of Erie. Prior to taking on that role, Brenda served as the business improvement district/ Main Street manager for the Erie Downtown Partnership. Brenda is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo with degrees in both Urban and Regional Analysis and Environmental Studies.

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Summer ‘14 Café Reconcile, one of The Emeril Lagasse Foundation’s primary beneficiaries, is a non-profit restaurant in New Orleans with a mission to decrease crime and poverty, by giving the city’s at-risk youth an opportunity to thrive in a career in the hospitality industry. The unique job-training program provides real-life experience by placing students in every position of the restaurant during the six-week curriculum. At the culmination of the program, the students are each placed in a six-week internship at a partnering restaurant before graduating and accepting full-time jobs.

New Orleans Gets Kicked Up A Notch With Help From Celebrity Chef’s Foundation

by Adriana Lopez

featured on www.forbes.com in May 2014

C

hef Emeril Lagasse speaks to a room of back of house and front of house staff members with the same enthusiasm he has when he’s kicking it up a notch on television. The pep talk ends with a group huddle. And, with about 20 hands in, Lagasse thanks the Lord and wishes the team a great night, as if preparing to lead them to Super Bowl victory.

However, Lagasse was not at any of his thirteen restaurant locations. He was speaking to a group of students at Café Reconcile in New Orleans, just minutes before hosting a fivecourse dinner for donors of the foundation that bears the famous chef ’s name. The room was dressed with fine china and fresh flowers perfectly fit for the $2,500 a plate dinner. And the students, each in their late teens and early twenties, were responsible for preparing, presenting and serving the multicourse meal to the elite diners.

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The dinner, an item from the foundation’s Carnivale du Vin fundraiser last November, brought in $100,000 to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, and provided poetic symmetry by showing the benefactors the initiative they were funding. Fifteen staff members that included students from the current class and alumni from previous classes graciously served the guests, carefully explaining the evening’s dishes. Some even shared their personal stories at the request of the diners.

Dianna Gibson stood in front of me on the balcony of the Emeril Lagasse Hospitality Center, the training and event space above Café Reconcile where the event was being held. We overlooked the restaurant’s courtyard as the staff prepared a wine dense cocktail reception prior to the dinner. Her braided hair neatly crowned her head. She wore pearl earrings, kept her hands together in front of her, and addressed every person as ma’am or sir like any well-mannered southerner.

“My attitude has changed so much,” said Gibson, her face lit up with every response. “When I started, I had a bad attitude. [Café Reconcile] taught me how to act, talk to people, how to make eye contact. I started with nothing and now I’m getting ready to graduate in two months.”

Gibson is a mother of three young children. She could not have been older than 22 because that is the cutoff age for the program, but it seemed like she had lived more in her 22 years than I have in 30. She did not want for herself and her young children what she saw her peers enduring in her neighborhood, so she applied to join this year’s class at Café Reconcile after hearing about the opportunity through a friend.

New Orleans has come a long way in recent years, but it is still somewhat of a segregated city. Those who have money and connections will continue to fare well. Those who grow up in the poverty stricken neighborhoods, have very little to no chance of breaking that cycle. That being said, getting the training or the connections necessary to work their way out of poverty, can be nearly impossible.

“This was my first time in Central City, and I was born and raised here,” said Glen Armantrout, CEO of Café Reconcile, about being approached to start a new restaurant concept in the dilapidated New Orleans neighborhood in 1997. “Stepping into this area I was taken back by the complete blight and desolation caused by the

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER crack epidemic in the 80’s.”

inspiring people.”

Since the opening of the restaurant in the reclaimed five-story building, Central City has been through a renaissance. The crime in the area continues to drop as more businesses open around the restaurant’s intersection. Those neighbors include The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Jack and Jake’s fresh food market, and Irvin Mayfield’s newest project, The New Jazz Market, which just broke ground earlier this year. In addition, Café Reconcile, with the help of the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, have provided 1,200 at risk youth with the intrapersonal skills and job training necessary to succeed in the hospitality industry, as well as a new opportunity to break away from the cycle of crime and poverty.

“We use the hospitality industry as a medium to help the students paint a picture for their future,” added Armantrout. “It is not an easy program, but we challenge them intentionally to make sure they are fully equipped for a broad range of careers.”

Lagasse added that programs like those at Café Reconcile teach young adults the values that the hospitality industry is based on – strong work ethic, passion, self-discipline and pride.

Whether their ultimate goal is to manage a restaurant, become an entrepreneur, or even follow a career in cosmetology like Ms. Gibson plans to do eventually, The Emeril Lagasse Foundation and Café Reconcile work together to help young adults find their paths, and knock down all the barriers that would otherwise keep them from doing so.

The Emeril Lagasse Foundation partnered with Café Reconcile over a decade ago, bringing with them new connections and ideas to the programming, and the non-profit quickly gained the respect of the industry. For Emeril Lagasse, this partnership was a new opportunity to inspire young people.

“I’ve had incredible mentors and experiences throughout my career, so the Foundation is a way I can take my knowledge and pass it along,” said Lagasse about his mission. “Culinary is what I know and love. But, if I were an auto mechanic, I would probably mentor young people at my body shop. This is just my way of

“We use the hospitality industry as a medium to help the students paint a picture for their future.”

Glen Armantrout, CEO of Café Reconcile

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Summer ‘14

join the crowd!

by Mary Lee Stotler

J

ust imagine: In your town you have a talented baker who has been working for years at a shop in another town. She has a dynamite business plan as well as the experience to start her own shop.

She says she would love to renovate a vacant building in your downtown and create a bakery on Main Street.

The location is perfect and you really believe in her.

Only problem is that she has no capital and not enough credit history to get a loan adequate to fund the scope of her ambitions.

Sound familiar?

What if a group of townspeople could get together and create a pool of money to fund her dreams, and get a local bakery into the 6

bargain? If local folks invest in a local business, they will support that business in order to protect their investment. Investment dollars could stay where investors can protect them, rather than going to third party firms who have no personal stake in the companies they fund. This is the theory behind the concept of investment crowdfunding.

A few years ago, Amy Cortese created a tidal wave with her book, Locavesting, which argued that people needed to be able to keep their money in their own communities. Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) with broad bipartisan support (for once) and the President signed it into law on April 5th, 2012. The Securities and Exchange Commission was tagged to come up with rules for the law by January 2013, and a new world of ready money for small-town entrepreneurs would be just a website-click away.

But that didn’t happen.

While it’s easy to blame the SEC for not following through, it’s important to remember that they are still stinging from the stock market debacle and the Bernie Madoff pyramid scheme scandal.

The SEC argues that they have to put in place well-considered rules to protect naïve investors. After a suitable public comment period, the SEC will devise the rules by which crowdfunding will operate. Supposedly, the rules were to be released in February of this year. Maybe the weather interfered?

Crowdfunding in the form of micro-donations has been going on for some time at sites like indiegogo.com and kickstarter.com, but it’s been illegal for a business to ask for investment money through public portals since the 1930s. Right now, companies are skirting the rules by offering incentives such as T-shirts or

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

product prototypes to people who send money. It’s really not investment in the traditional sense, because you are not actually risking your money on a win-or-lose proposition and you already know you will never get your money back. Still, it’s dicey to support these companies because there are no safeguards in place to ensure that they ever follow through on their promises.

The Gilded Age of the 1920s made everyone believe that money was plentiful; even working class people owned stock. “Brokers” sold shares in imaginary companies that often turned out to be junk, and speculated in real estate such as “swampland in Florida,” which turned out to be worthless (until Disney planted an empire there – but that is another story). Little old ladies, and men, lost their entire nest eggs to swindlers and stock values escalated to heights well beyond their worth, resulting in the great crash of 1929. Sound familiar?

The Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created protections for investors. It required any business that wanted to attract investment dollars to register with the agency and disclose just about everything about the business.

That way, there was an assurance that the company was legitimate and money invested in that company would be relatively safe. This is why you often hear of startups choosing not to “go public;” they don’t want to be subject to that public disclosure.

You can still ask your Aunt Mabel for money to start a business.

The exemptions include friends and family members, securities of municipal, state and federal governments, and small offerings within your own state. The claim of “prior relationship” is sometimes cited as an exemption. You can ask someone to invest in your company if you have an established relationship with them, but you can’t hang a sign on your door or post to your

Facebook page asking people to invest in your business. One guy in New England got into hot water for hanging a Post-It Note on his booth at a farmer’s market asking customers to consider investing in his farm so he could expand his operation. Seemed pretty innocent, but that’s a big no-no.

As of last July, the SEC put in place some preliminary rules on crowdfunding. For instance, individuals with a high net worth – those who make over $200,000 a year or are worth more than $1,000,000 are considered “accredited investors” and they can provide funding for your startup, but only in small increments.

So if you went on a crowdfunding site to look for investors, as opposed to micro-donors, only people who met those criteria would be eligible to invest in the business.

If you find that wonderful entrepreneur who wants to start a business in your town, these are the rules so far: • Crowdfunding has to take place through a registered portal (website or broker) who will pre-screen potential investors to make sure they’re accredited • A plan to raise over $500,000 requires an audit and registration with the SEC prior to the offering • No more than $1,000,000 can be raised per year Whether the JOBS Act becomes a new way to open business in our towns, or whether it becomes just another way for the rich to get richer remains to be seen. The rules offer important protections for investors, even though they are choking a potential source of capital that could transform our downtowns. Either way, it is clear that we need to discover new methods to jumpstart those creative and dynamic people who want to boost business in our towns.

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Summer ‘14

Elm Street 2.0 A Review of the First Decade in PA

by Julie Fitzpatrick

I

t’s been ten years and counting since the creation of the Elm Street legislation on February 4, 2004.

Since then, there have been more than 35 Pennsylvania Elm Street designated programs, rural and urban, interspersed throughout the commonwealth. PDC decided to take this opportunity to reflect and celebrate the accomplishments and challenges throughout those past ten years by hosting two Elm Street Think Tank sessions during the month of March. A group of Elm Street managers and coordinators joined us in Harrisburg to share the successes and challenges of the program in their communities.

We were honored to be joined by Representative Robert Freeman (D-136), the author and steadfast champion of the Elm Street Act. Remember, the PA House passed H.B. 500, at 196-0, and the PA Senate passed it unanimously as well a few months later.

Rep. Freeman shared his personal story of growing up in Easton and what it was like to be able to walk to downtown with his brother on a Saturday morning. But most importantly, he shared how important his neighborhood was to the community and 8

how important the community was to his neighborhood. He recalled how Easton was a “receiving area” of immigrants, rich in cultures and diverse; how the neighborhood was an extension of downtown, mixed-use businesses and institutions, and hosting a mix of housing options, often encouraging extended families to stay together and flourish. This is his wish for all Elm Street designated neighborhoods.

Our managers spanned the Commonwealth, veterans and rookies, rural and urban, thriving and struggling. They came to share and discuss with one another, and to learn from one another. We listened and we commented, and in the end, the result was fairly comprehensive. The program works, but it can be improved. In their unanimous opinion, the “Five Point Approach” works. But there was also a clear indication that we need to focus more on the “softer side” of Elm Street, the social service side. In their opinion, no matter how much the neighborhood is enhanced by façade improvements or streetscape enhancements, a neighborhood is more than skin deep. A neighborhood succeeds or struggles primarily through the condition of its residents, and the program hasn’t focused enough on them. We need to define organic neighborhoods with their natural boundaries that exist for a reason, not boundaries that are arbitrarily laid out. We need to focus more on creating healthy neighborhoods, providing needed resources for both physical and human improvement, and encouraging people to be more vested in their home and vested in their neighborhood.

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Our Pennsylvania Elm Street neighborhoods need to be able to meet the ever changing needs of their own neighborhoods – changing demographics, the elderly being able to “age in place,” increasing programs for engaging our youth, and providing opportunities for neighborhood residents to access nearby family sustaining jobs. The Elm Street program can accomplish these things. By creating stronger partnerships with their local Main Street or other downtown revitalization organization, they can connect the economic needs of the local businesses with the job skills of the local residents. They can partner with local schools, community colleges, technical schools, colleges and universities to bring the necessary training to the community.

They can work with local banks and credit unions to bring home improvement loans to homeowners and micro-lending programs to entrepreneurs. They can work with local healthcare providers to bring needed medical services to the neighborhood. They can work with urban gardeners and gourmet chefs to bring fresh food to both local residents and local restaurants. They can work

with local churches to help to build bridges between generations, cultures, and families, creating a better place for all. Many of our Elm Street programs are already doing several of these things.

There are down-payment assistance programs and children’s art programs, community block ambassadors and English (and sometimes Spanish) as a Second Language courses.

The Elm Street Program is needed. Not just in Pennsylvania, but throughout the US. Maple Street has sprouted up in Maryland and Magnolia Street has rooted in Louisiana. Everyone realizes that you can’t have a thriving, healthy downtown, without a thriving, healthy neighborhood. We need to find ways to continue to grow the Elm Street program, both in the financial support that is provided and in the human value that is nurtured in our communities, whether we’re in Bradford, Lewisburg, or West Reading. We need to support these programs and value these professionals, the work that they’re doing, and the impact that they’re making in our neighborhoods.

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Easton An Award Winning Revitalization

by Stefan Klosowski

O

ur Main Street Manager in Easton has a B.S. degree from Philadelphia University with a major in Textile Management and Marketing. Kim Kmetz has held the position as the Main Street Manager for the Easton Main Street Initiative of the Greater Easton Development Partnership for a period of eight years. In that time her marketing training has been utilized in this position, and Kim truly has woven the fabric of Easton’s historic architecture together with familial values and activities.

Volunteer development has been an integral part of Kim’s downtown revitalization efforts. Kim stepped into a career as a sales and account representative for two major textile firms, Burlington Industries and West Point Pepperell in New York City. Following that experience she spent eleven years as a full time mother raising three children. Ms. Kmetz wove her way back into the work force as the Manager of Resources for the Easton Heritage Alliance and the 1753 Bachmann Publick House in the downtown. The task included the need to pull people together and unify groups of volunteers. This opportunity allowed her to express her skills as a “people person.”

Kim has demonstrated her ability in rallying local interests to preserve one of the oldest buildings in Easton, the Bachmann Publick House. She assisted in providing the forum for developing a volunteer program to sustain this historic building. However,

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Kim was destined to utilize these skills on a larger scale and soon embarked on a grander opportunity as the Main Street Manger of Easton.

The appearance and activity of Easton’s downtown stand as a credit to much of Kim’s efforts. In a recent PA Downtown Center meeting held in Easton statewide managers were able to experience the delight of “Cheeburger Cheeburger.” A former department store known as Pomeroy’s was vacant for a number of years. Through the combined efforts and vision of a number of interested persons, the building was revitalized. Today a special restaurant caters to families and visitors. The theme of the restaurant is taken from the Blues Brothers and other skits as provided by the ever popular Saturday Night Live TV show (See photo).This delightful visual entertainment is a great follow-up to families who visit Easton and enjoy the Crayola Experience. This anchor project contributes greatly to the downtown’s overall scheme. The owner Frank Aversa is also very supportive of all community events.

Easton has one of the oldest continuously running outdoor markets in the country. For a while, it hit hard times but with a group of dedicated community members together with State Rep Bob Freeman found a way to revive the market. It should also be mentioned that the Elm Street program is ten years old this year and Rep. Freeman had major role in its creation.

An additional accomplishment of the Easton Main Street program includes the “Gift Card.” While gift cards might not be exceptional, the idea of this one came about when a local restaurant manager wanted to give her staff holiday presents but keep the money local and not have the ability to spend the card at a competing establishment. The Gift Card idea has been successful and over the course of ten months, they have sold nearly $28,000 worth of cards.

Today there are over sixty-six participating merchants.

The Easton Main Street Initiative has been the recipient of the following awards: • A two time recipient of the PA Downtown Center’s Townie Award in 2014 for a successful Anchor Building project namely

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER the Pomeroy Building, and for the Promotions/Marketing Gift Card Program.

• In 2010 a Townie Award was given for Organizational Excellence for the Town-Gown Relationship with Lafayette.

Kim is a member of the Advisory Council of Lafayette College’s Williams Center for the Arts.

• Best Urban Core Project, Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. - 2010 • Aaron O. Hoff Community Appreciation Award, Lafayette College - 2009 • Named #1 performing Main Street in PA, PA Downtown Center - 2009 • Named in Top 10 College Town, PA Pursuits Magazine, 2009 • Easton Leadership Award, Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce - 2008 • Accredited by the National Main Street Center and the PA Downtown Center for seven years running.

A number of the successful events and fund raisers include: • Chocolate Lover’s Soiree • Historic Easton House Tour • Haunted Easton Tours and Zombie Pub Crawl • Lafayette Day • Little Free Libraries • Artist designed bike racks • Three outdoor concert series • Peace Candle Lighting and Holiday Open House • Spring Into Easton Shopping and Dining Crawl • Installation of string lighting in the alleyways (see photo) • Easton’s downtown has also had a successful façade program.

Over the course of the last eight years, $167.000 has been

awarded to property and business owners for signs and facades.

Kim has truly enjoyed her experience as the Main Street Manager for Easton and attributes some of her professional sustainability to work as tirelessly as she does, to embracing her duties in a familial and friendly manner. While there are the occurrences of unique individual behavior that many downtown managers deal with, Kim has established a strong sense of dedication to the college students, their parents and their combined experience to the town-gown relationship. She has been able to balance her life and also bring her own family into this realm of activity. Kim has been married for 25 years and has three children. Her son Christian acts as a Snowman for some of the special events. Kim is involved with her church’s bell choir and continues to develop community gardening and the sharing of activities with members of her family.

Kim addresses it this way: “I think this has got to be one of the most rewarding careers that I can imagine.

No matter where I go, people thank me for helping to make them proud of their city again. Now they can announce they are from Easton with a proud smile on their face.”

She meets people who tell her that they can’t wait until more apartments are built so they can move downtown and be within walking distance of the market, shops, fine restaurants, and more… and a return to “pride of place.”

People want to live here again. One of her friends named Charlie has told her that he has to move out of town since so many of his friends like this atmosphere, want to visit him and stay in his home.

Kim Kmetz

Main Street Manager Easton Main Street Initiative Greater Easton Development Partnership 35 South Third Street Easton, PA 18042 610-330-9940 Kim@eastonpartnership.org www.eastonmainstreet.org

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winter 13/14

Keeping your dollars local

Investing in your community

by Julie Fitzpatrick

T

here are Buy Local campaigns, Buy Fresh – Buy Local chapters, Think Local First and Shop Local promotions, in addition to local dollar programs. We do our best to encourage entrepreneurism, as we support our locally owned bookstores, cafés, and restaurants.

We all strive to do it – keeping our dollars local, but have you ever thought about investing locally?

Recently, there has been a trend in doing just that.

that there were around 100 local stock exchanges throughout the US, including ones in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. As we know, with consolidation, they all became centralized in NYC; however, Hawaii, Canada, and even Lancaster (PA) are trying to bring them back or even create their own stock exchange, linking lenders and investors with local companies. It’s had its bumps along the way, but with US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) laws changing, they might not be far from becoming reality.

Local investment clubs are sprouting up all over the country, simply with small groups of people creating Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), and pooling their funds to invest in local companies that are in their communities. They are creating a shift in the relationship that we have to our money, and to our investing. Many of us may have retirement accounts that are diversified in a blend of mutual funds, bonds, and perhaps stocks, but what do we really know about how our money is invested, even if we do read the prospectuses? We’re disconnected from where our money goes, what it goes towards, and who is affected. Opportunities for local investing create a connectedness between our dollars and our investment. We can see where our investments are made, that local jobs are created, and companies are given chances to thrive. We have a relationship with our money and it’s our chance to “do good.”

Local ownership matters. It matters to us and it matters to our communities. Owners of local companies have been shown to be vested in their neighborhoods and in their communities, owning property, supporting local schools and events, all while creating local jobs.

Local stock exchanges are attempting to bring local investing back to communities. At the turn of the 20th Century, it’s estimated 12

Social investing in general is growing as well; the Slow Money movement is working to create a paradigm shift of philanthropy and investment based on “the nurture capital industry,” connecting people with their food and with their food growers and producers. Its principles ask three questions: • What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?

• What if there was a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits?

• What if there was 50% more organic matter in our soil 50 years from now? It’s about building strong local capital and strong local relationships.

For more information on: Investing clubs

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Slow Money

Slowmoney.org The Carrot Project

Slow Investing

How Your Money Can Transform the World, edited by John Bloom, 2012

PENNSYLVANIA DOWNTOWN CENTER’S QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

2014 EVENTS Calendar EVENT

DATE

TIME

LOCATION

New Manager Training

Monday, July 28 Tuesday, July 29, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Harrisburg, PA PDC Offices

Community Revitalization Academy: Organization

Wednesday, July 30 Thursday, July 31, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Harrisburg, PA PDC Offices

Regional Membership Meeting Regional Leadership Forum

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Oil City

Regional Membership Meeting Regional Leadership Forum

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Southwest Region

New Manager Training

Monday, September 22 Tuesday, September 23, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Harrisburg, PA PDC Offices

Community Revitalization Academy: Design

Wednesday, September 24 Thursday, September 25, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Harrisburg, PA PDC Offices

Regional Membership Meeting Regional Leadership Forum

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Lebanon

Regional Membership Meeting Regional Leadership Forum

Thursday, October 9, 2014

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Scranton

New Manager Training

Monday, November 17 Tuesday, November 18, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

TBA

Community Revitalization Academy: Marketing

Wednesday, November 19 Thursday, November 20, 2014

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

TBA

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