This is the third part in an on-going series detailing downtown Foley’s past, present, and future.

FOLEY – The City of Foley is applying to join the Main Street, Alabama program, and Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the program, Marylon Barkan, joined the lineup at the Moving Foley Forward presentation on Jan. 11 to discuss details with the audience. The program, which relaunched in 2013, has since helped downtowns across Alabama to revitalize and grow, such as Jasper, Alabama. Since joining with Main Street, Jasper opened 13 new businesses in 2017 alone.
“I don’t think I’d have to sell the idea of revitalizing downtown Foley to you,” said Barkan. “You have done a tremendous job, you are ready, you are primed, you understand that it contributes to your tax space, and it really is the heart and soul of your community.”
MAIN STREET STATS

Main Street, Alabama keeps track of stats from all the cities involved in the project, so communities can prove and show their success through results that they are able to share with local officials. Barkan shared the stats that the program has seen since 2014 to give the audience an idea of what the program has to offer.
“We track job creation as well as job loss to make sure that our numbers are accurate,” said Barkan. “We have 461 net new businesses; 1,928 new jobs; $68 million in public dollars; and private dollars $253 million. So that’s like a reinvestment statistic of almost four to one for your public dollars that are invested, and 56,000 volunteer hours, so those are really impressive stats for a program as young as we are.”
The program continues to grow, bringing in a handful of new communities each year through a competitive application process.
APPLICATION PROCESS
“We have a three-tier program,” said Barkan. “We work with people if they just are interested in making their downtown better, which that would be the training level. We have a network, which is people who are just starting to explore the revitalization process, and that’s where Foley has been for probably the past two or three years. And then we have our designated programs, and we have 21 of those. They have a full range of services and they also have a full range of responsibilities.”
Foley is working on becoming part of the designated program, which would require that they track all the above listed stats, for Main Street, Alabama to tabulate them on their website, both for the Main Street program and for each individual community.
The application process brings in up to three new communities a year, making it very competitive.
“To become a Main Street program, you have to attend an application workshop,” said Barkan. “Those are in January and Foley has some people signed up to attend. It is a very robust application, it will take a committee of volunteers to fill out, because you are going to have a baseline of information of all the areas of the 4-point approach and exactly where Foley is before you start.”
Afterwards, each individual community must do an oral presentation in Birmingham before a selection committee who will score the performance. They deliver the results to Main Street, Alabama’s board of directors, who will approve the cities.
“It’s really, really fun,” said Barkan. “The applications are a little dry, they’re very factual, but when you come to Birmingham and do the onsite presentation it’s where you really get the emotion, where you really get to see people that love their community.”
During this portion of the application, applicants are encouraged to show their community spirit, with some coming dressed as George Washington and others acting out scenes from Steel Magnolias. Each community can showcase what makes their area standout.
BEING SELECTED
If selected for the program, then the process can go as quick as the community wants. “We can hold services a little bit longer if your community’s not quite ready for them, or you can motor through them,” said Barkan.
When selected, Main Street, Alabama has a three-day resource team visit, where they bring in experts of all areas of the 4-point approach.
“We conduct a community visioning process,” said Barkan. “This process is really important because it’s not what Main Street, Alabama wants your community to be, it’s what you want your community to be. So we have a well vetted process where everyone can participate, everyone can vote on the things that the community wants, and we put it into a vision statement.”
Afterwards there is site training, where Main Street representatives help the community develop a board, help with articles of incorporation, and help to establish and train committees in each area of the 4-point process.
“Next we come in with a market analysis, so you understand exactly what is going on in your district,” said Barkan. “Where your leakage is, what are the areas where a current business can expand and better themselves, and then at the end, our branding.”
The downtown will be branded as a destination, and the city can use the brand for promotional activities and tourism purposes. Each brand is unique to the city, such as Monroeville, which is Alabama’s literary capital, is branded: write your chapter here.
The cost for the program is $7,500 for the first year, $5,000 for the second year, $3,000 for the third, and finally $1,500 annually from the fourth year forward.
The new additions in Main Street, Alabama, are slated for announcement in June, and Foley is working to make their name appear on the list.
4-POINT APPROACH
Main Street, Alabama uses a 4-point approach in their work, with the four areas working simultaneously to help growth in a community. The approach was developed by the national Main Street Center, and has been successful nationwide. Recently, the approach has expanded into Japan and Australia.
“So the 4-point approach that Main Street follows is promotion, organization, economic vitality, and design,” said Barkan. “All of those come together and are managed by your board of directors. They all function together and they cross pollinate, they make Main Street programs different from anything else.”
During the organization point, Main Street helps the city set up their personal organization with volunteers and discuss fundraising opportunities. Organization also helps Main Street boards form partnerships around the city who can help with fundraising and promotion. Main Street believes in projects that are lighter, quicker, and cheaper, anything that will catch the eye and bring attention to the city.
“It doesn’t have to be a beautiful bronze statue, even though those are fabulous too,” said Barkan. “But you can make art out of hay bells, just things that are showing activity, vibrancy, and action.”
Promotion deals with special events, image building, and correcting misconceptions about your downtown area.
“Special events should be authentic to your community,” said Barkan. “You don’t want to host an event that anyone can host, you want to host something that is truly you.”
Design includes enhancing the appearance of downtown through grants, new landscaping and building repairs, merchandizing, and public art, all with the end game of helping downtown merchants profit from the improvements.
Economic vitality focuses on introducing new businesses into the community, sometimes in creative ways.
“We promote a wide variety of uses,” said Barkan. “We like downtown residential, we like restaurants, we like retail, and we’re going to use that market study to fill market gaps that you have.”
Main Street loves to fill empty spaces in a downtown, but they first focus on the existing businesses that are there already to strengthen them.

Part 4 in the series, detailing Foley’s Historic Structure Survey and a comp plan update, will be coming soon.