Jack Riordan (deputy director of the Ohio Department of Development), Fran Bauman, Daniel Gardner, and Rex Engle accept Oberlin's award from Downtown Ohio, Inc. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DANIEL GARDNER College Named as Key Supporter in Ohio's Main Street Program by Betty Gabrielli
		DECEMBER 20, 2001--The town of Oberlin has received an award signifying its acceptance in the innovative Ohio Main Street Program administered by Downtown Ohio, Inc. (DOI). "We are proud that the College was named in the application as one of three key supporters of the Main Street Program, along with the City and O.H.I.O," says Daniel Gardner, director of the College's Community Affairs Office. Gardner attended the statehouse ceremony with Fran Bauman, chair of Oberlin City Council; Rex Engle, president of the Oberlin Area Chamber of Commerce; and Kate Reagan, director of the Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Program Manager. Bowling Green was the only other town in Ohio selected for the award, which was bestowed as the result of a competitive application process. The Ohio Main Street Program is modeled after the National Trust Main Street Program's comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization. Oberlin will receive three years of intensive training and technical support needed to restore its central business district to center of community activity and commerce. "Receipt of the designation as an Ohio Main Street community is a significant affirmation of this community's efforts to support its downtown," says Gardner, who also is chair of the Oberlin Main Street Program's Economic Restructuring Committee. "Acceptance means that the 'experts' think we have the coordinated approach and the capacity to start making visible improvements," says Reagan. " Now we move to action." Gardner and Reagan say that during the next three years the specific goals of the Oberlin Main Street Program include: expansion of the downtown business district south one block along Main Street, making physical improvements (e.g. angled on-street parking) to that block; completion of a demonstration project of building renovation and façade improvement to show building owners the benefits of capital investments in their properties; addition of an additional 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 5000 sqare feet of living space in the downtown area through renovations or in-fill construction; improvement of commercial ties to existing community events (e.g concerts); and access to federal, state, and private sources of funding to spur investment in the downtown area . The Ohio Main Street assistance includes volunteer and program manager training, marketing and promotion, business recruitment, market analysis, design, historic preservation and fund raising. The program also will conduct on-site visits to help each community develop its work program and plan for success. The first such visit to Oberlin is planned for late winter/early spring, Gardner says. To reinforce the College's historic commitment to community service, President Nancy S. Dye and the Board of Trustees created the Community Affairs Office in the spring of 2000 to assist local groups in revitalizing the town of Oberlin, and named Gardner director of the new office that summer.
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