April 4, 2025 – The Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA) announces a five-year community development grant strategy to deliver planning and marketing services to Designated Main Street Communities from 2025-2030.
The “Mississippi Main Street Community Connected Character Program” is designed to empower local communities by providing the tools on the ground level for telling community stories and growing local impact.
“We have listened to the needs of our local Main Street directors and have budgeted over $100,000 in our community development funds to bring long requested services to our Designated communities, including branding, economic impact pieces, and community marketing videos,” said Jim Miller, MMSA Executive Director.
The project aims to cultivate a deep connection between community members and their Main Street organizations, building pride and unity. A comprehensive communication toolkit will be developed to support each community’s unique needs. This toolkit will include
Place Driven Branding: Cohesive and representative branding for the downtown district and the organization that supports it.
Economic Impact Pieces: Targeted, community-specific economic impact pieces to equip these communities to advocate for increased public stakeholder engagement and support.
Community Marketing Video: Community spotlight videos between 90 seconds and two minutes in length, focusing on Main Street districts and their historic, cultural, and interpretive assets, which will support and stimulate enhanced tourism activities.
The value of the “Mississippi Main Street Community Connected Character Program” is $6,617 per community. With each participating community committing a $1,000 match for the program, the per community value is $5,617.
Another piece of the five-year strategy is bringing Downtown Roadmap Refreshes to Designated Communities that have not a Downtown Roadmap in recent years.
MMSA is in the process of seeking grant funds from potential funders to provide these Downtown Roadmap Refreshes.
“When we designated a new Main Street program, the organization receives a Downtown Roadmap within its first year,” Miller said. “We bring in downtown professionals and consultants for a three-day period to study and meet with community stakeholders and ultimately produce a downtown-focused plan that will guide the Main Street work for years.”
The roadmap serves to guide the new organization with planning and design recommendations along the Main Street Four Point Approach: Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Vitality.
“We have Designated Main Street programs who have accomplished everything in their initial roadmap and are ready for the next phase of development as well as ongoing maintenance,” Miller said.
The Downtown Roadmap will also include an implementation workshop to guide the local Main Street program into implementing the recommendations into a step-by-step, annual work plan.
The Downtown Roadmaps will be scheduled based on priority of need and the amount of time it is has been since a local program’s first roadmap. Each Downtown Roadmap will be valued at $25,000-$35,000 with the local program committing a small community match that will be based on the availability of grant funding for the project.
“Currently, the branding campaigns, economic impact pieces, and marketing videos are being developed,” Miller said. “All of these pieces will help strengthen and elevate the work of our local Main Street programs. Much of their efforts are often behind the scenes and not always visible, and these will be tools to further engage and advocate for supporting the work of Main Street.”
