Collaborative Partnership at Montana Department of Commerce Will Continue Montana Main Street Program

Governor Steve Bullock is pleased to announce a collaborative economic development effort between the Montana Office of Tourism and Community Development Division at the Montana Department of Commerce.

The two divisions have banded together to continue to provide technical assistance, workshops, educational outreach, and grant opportunities to help revitalize Montana’s historic business communities through the Montana Main Street Program, which was cut during the 2013 Legislative Session.

"I’m proud to say the next open grant cycle will be later this summer," said Governor Bullock. "We look forward to working with communities to fulfill their local visions and to get another round of projects moving forward."

The collaboration combines the Montana Office of Tourism’s goal to create and maintain vibrant and charming Montana towns that serve as gateways to Montana’s natural wonders, with the Community Development Division’s mission to offer safe, efficient, and quality public facilities, including streets, water and sewer services, and schools; affordable and attractive housing and neighborhoods; excellent health care facilities and social services; a vibrant economy; and job opportunities across Montana.

The Montana Main Street Program offers technical assistance and expertise to all Montana communities and awards competitive grant funding to member communities actively working on downtown revitalization, long range planning, economic development, and historic preservation. Twenty-one communities are members of the program and almost an equal number of additional communities have approached Main Street since last fall with an interest in joining or for technical assistance support with downtown projects.

The Main Street Program has recently provided both technical assistance and over $41,000 in grant funds to the cities of Glasgow, Glendive, and Terry to develop comprehensive growth policies to identify and plan for the impacts of oil and gas development on their communities, proactively address future growth, prioritize public infrastructure needs, and support diverse economic development.

In addition to providing direct assistance with local organizational structure and strategic town planning, the Montana Main Street program awards grants for various projects to help revitalize historic downtowns, such as creating urban renewal tax increment districts, updating growth policies and other planning documents, identifying and marketing local historical features to promote tourism, completing business, tourism, and economic assessments, and analyzing and mapping downtown property taxes and revenues.

For more information on the Montana Main Street Program, please visit the program website at http://mtmainstreet.mt.gov/default.mcpx, contact Main Street Program Coordinator Tash Wisemiller

at 406-841-2756, or email [email protected]