Click Here to Meet the Staff

About Downtown Mansfield Incorporated

Downtown Mansfield, Inc. Overview

What is Downtown Mansfield, Inc.?
Downtown Mansfield Incorporated is a non-profit membership organization that works to improve our downtown. Our membership consists of individuals and businesses that believe in the Main Street approach to community development. We strive to strengthen our community by utilizing a foundation of historical preservation and downtown restoration. We believe that the heart of a community lies in it's downtown. During the past decade, our downtown has made remarkable progress in becoming a better, more livable city for those who live and work in the area. Still, there is much work to be done.

Membership
Because we are a non-profit organization, the level of support that we receive from our members has a very direct impact on the contribution that we are able to have in the community. We depend upon our members and volunteers who create a pool of resources from which ideas, energy and changes are developed. Downtown Mansfield Incorporated offers many benefits to it's members that help to create more foot traffic in the downtown and to increase customer bases and provide businesses with a greater pool of employees.

Benefits to the Community
When a community participates in the revitalization effort, its Downtown will experience renewed vitality and enhanced economic performance.

• Protecting & strengthening the existing tax base
• Increasing sales & returning revenues to the community
• Creating a positive community image
• Creating visually appealing & functional buildings
• Attracting new businesses
• Developing new housing opportunities in historic buildings
• Creating new jobs
• Increasing investment in the Downtown
• Preserving historic resources

Downtown Mansfield, Inc. Committee's
As a part of National Main Street's Four Point Approach, we maintain four standing committee's that work toward the goals and vision of our organization. The following is a description of each of these committees along with a snapshot of information regarding their goals and objectives:

Organization means getting everyone working toward the same goal. The tough work of building consensus and cooperation among the groups that have an important stake in the district can be eased by using the common sense formula of a volunteer driven program and an organizational structure of board and committees.

• Raising money: for projects and administration, from donations and sponsorships
• Managing staff and volunteers by recruiting people, supervising them, and rewarding good work
• Promoting the program: to downtown interests and the public
• Managing finances: by developing good accounting procedure

Design means getting downtown into top physical shape. Capitalizing on its best assets - such as historic buildings and traditional downtown layout is just part of the story . An inviting atmosphere created through window displays, parking areas, signs, sidewalks, street lights, and landscaping conveys a visual message about what downtown is and what it has to offer.

• Educating others about good design: enhancing the image of each business as well as that of the district
• Providing good design advice: Encouraging quality improvements to private properties and public spaces
• Planning Downtown Mansfield Incorporated's development: guiding future growth and shaping regulations
• Motivating others to make changes creating incentives and targeting key projects.

Economic Restructuring means finding a new purpose for Downtown Mansfield Incorporated's enterprises. By helping existing downtown businesses expand and recruiting new ones to respond to today's market, Downtown Mansfield, Inc. programs help convert unused space into productive property and sharpen the competitiveness of business enterprises.

• Leaning about the district's current economic condition and identifying opportunities for market growth
• Strengthening existing businesses and recruiting new ones
• Finding new economic uses for traditional downtown buildings
• Developing financial incentives and capital for building rehabilitations and business development
• Monitoring the economic performance of the district.

Promotion means selling the image and promise of downtown Mansfield to all prospects. By marketing the district's unique characteristics to shoppers, investors, new businesses, and visitors, and effective promotion strategy forges a positive image through advertising, retail promotional activity, special events, and marketing campaigns carried out by local volunteers.

• Understanding the changing market: both potential shoppers and your "competition"
• Identifying downtown assets: including people, buildings, heritage, and institutions
• Defining downtown Mansfield's market niche: its unique position in the marketplace
• Creating new image campaigns, retail promotions, and special events to lure people back downtown.