The City of Lakewood, through its partner Lakewood Community Progress Incorporated (LCPI), has been selected to join the Ohio Main Street Program. The ceremony was held in the Statehouse Atrium on Thursday, December 8, 2005. LCPI's Main Street Program will join an elite group of communities dedicated to a comprehensive revitalization strategy that is highly successful.

With support from the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and City of Lakewood, LCPI was selected as an Ohio Main Street Community through a competitive application process. As a result of becoming an official Main Street Community, LCPI will receive intensive training and technical support needed to enhance Downtown Lakewood. The assistance includes volunteer and program manager training, marketing and promotion, business recruitment, market analysis, design, historic preservation and fundraising. The Ohio Main Street Program will also conduct on-site visits to help each community develop its work program and plan for success.

The Ohio Main Street Program, administered by Downtown Ohio, Inc., is modeled after the National Trust Main Street Center's comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization. Benefits of this program include renewed vitality of the downtown area along with enhanced economic performance. Today, the Main Street Program has been instituted in 43 states and over 1,787 communities. Nationwide, it has also helped create 231,682 net new jobs and opened 57,470 net new businesses.

LCPI is an independent, private non-profit corporation with a Board that contains representatives from downtown businesses and representatives from the City and the Chamber. In a joint effort, the business community through the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lakewood created LCPI to encourage and support quality planning, economic development, rehabilitation and restoration by fostering public and private partnerships and promoting and celebrating the unique assets of downtown Lakewood. The three entities started the process to become a Main Street Community in March of this year by holding the Downtown Assessment Resource Team (D.A.R.T.) visit at the Beck Center's Armory. The event drew the largest crowd ever for a DART visit. Based on the community response to this D.A.R.T., the partnership moved forward with the application becoming only one of the few communities accepted upon the first application.

Downtown Ohio, Inc., organized in 1989, is a statewide non-profit corporation that encourages the development, redevelopment and improvement of downtowns and neighborhood commercial district areas throughout Ohio. Since 1993, Downtown Ohio, Inc. has received support from the Ohio Department of Development's Office of Housing and Community Partnerships through Training and Technical Assistance grants. Additional supporters of Downtown Ohio, Inc. include the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, National City Bank and Sky Financial.

Pictured: Planning & Development Assistant Director Dryck Bennett, Planning and Development Director Tom Jordan, Executive Director of LCPI Jennifer Hooper, Executive Director of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Kathy Berkshire and 2005 President of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Tim Laskey