The latest and greatest to come out of DCED is the Keystone Community Program. It sort of takes the place of the Main Street and the Elm Streets. This new program will offer up to a $50,000 implementation grant for those wishing to participate.
The qualifying terms are a little onerous and could mark a shift in the types of funding that may be available to a community. It is expected that there will be 5 years of cash set aside for a manager before the implementation grant can be secured. In other words if your main street person makes $50,000 a year...you would need to come up with $250,000 in cash in order to qualify. Not many Communities can qualify for that kind of expenditure.
What this will bring is the revitalization effort as an in-house function of a borough or a city. Initially, under the main street program having the function be in-house was not a favored position. Many communities will have to look into assigning staff to a 60% assignment in order to qualify for the program. That would be a code official or a planner, someone with a full time position.
The qualifying terms are a little onerous and could mark a shift in the types of funding that may be available to a community. It is expected that there will be 5 years of cash set aside for a manager before the implementation grant can be secured. In other words if your main street person makes $50,000 a year...you would need to come up with $250,000 in cash in order to qualify. Not many Communities can qualify for that kind of expenditure.
What this will bring is the revitalization effort as an in-house function of a borough or a city. Initially, under the main street program having the function be in-house was not a favored position. Many communities will have to look into assigning staff to a 60% assignment in order to qualify for the program. That would be a code official or a planner, someone with a full time position.
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