Our Four Point Approach

Warsaw Community Development Corporation is continuing to work toward the greater good of downtown Warsaw. To accomplish this task, like any business, we must look at the big picture. WCDC, through the Main Street four-point approach, works as a partner in maintaining a prosperous downtown.

The Main Street approach is a comprehensive revitalization process designed to improve all aspects of downtown's image. It produces both tangible, and equally important, intangible benefits.

Making downtown a fun place to be, improving economic management, and strengthening public participation are as critical to downtown's future as recruiting new businesses, rehabilitating buildings, and expanding parking.

The four elements of the Main Street approach define a well-balanced program:

1. ORGANIZATION is the partnership between WCDC and downtown businesses, area corporations, organizations, and city/county government. The dream of any community concerned about downtown's future is to create an organization that is accountable for and capable of accomplishing revitalization. Efficiently applying scarce resources, attracting top professional staff, building community leadership, harnessing talented volunteers, and learning the skills of management and redevelopment make organization an essential part of the four-step approach.

2. PROMOTION ranges from street festivals to retail merchandising, from community education to aggressive public relations. Re-establishing downtown as a compelling place for shoppers, investors, and visitors means not only improving sales but also rekindling community excitement and involvement.

3. DESIGN AND HISTORICAL PRESERVATION gives WCDC the availability to help building owners with the development of aesthetically pleasing exterior facades while maintaining and/or improving the interior structure to meet the needs of today. Attention must be paid to all elements of the downtown environment -- not just buildings and store fronts, but also public improvements, rear entries, landscaping, window displays, and graphic materials. Historic preservation showcases the irreplaceable character of our downtown buildings and heritage.

4. ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING is the most complex and continually changing of the four points and, in a sense, ties the four-point approach together. Economic development, as defined by the American Economic Development Council, is "the process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services. The economic developer's role is to influence the process for benefit of the (community) through expanding job opportunities and the tax base." By seeking new or improved business to satisfy customer demand, improving property management, and encouraging reinvestment, not only does WCDC help provide direct activity in our downtown, but indirectly, we assist with bringing in outside dollars. An active and attractive downtown serves as an important marketing tool in the recruitment of new corporations and businesses as well as the employees needed to accommodate them. WCDC has learned that revitalization can justify and sustain itself only by creating lasting, economic benefits for everyone.

The four-point approach produces highly visible, short-term results while building toward lasting economic changes critical to long term success. And the Main Street program is a self-help strategy. It means continually improving the local leadership and community participation necessary to sustain a successful program. This four point approach has earned national recognition as a practical strategy appropriately scaled to the resources and conditions of most small communities.

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