Our board of directors leads our organization. The board of directors works along with Emporia Main Staff to engage and grow our membership, steer our overall vision, and forge partnerships with other community organizations.
Our organizational initiatives create a strong foundation for a sustainable growth of Emporia's downtown commercial district. In addition, organizational initiatives with our city and county partners benefit the entire area.
Organizational Initiatives
Community Initiated Development
In partnership with the City of Emporia, this project is for the community to proactively identify and initiate redevelopment.
Membership
Emporia Main Street was founded to serve the business needs of our members. Our board of directors works to grow our membership by ensuring that our programs provide educational, financial, and promotional value to our members.
Vision 2030
A strategic vision for the next decade, led by input from the community and our members.
Homegrown Capital Campaign
Our capital campaign raises funds to grow local business and employment in Emporia, by fostering entrepreneurship. The campaign has funded the new Emporia Main Street facility at 727 Commercial, which includes a business incubator space.
Other Organization Projects
Want to be a part of an active organization who gets things done?
Emporia Main Street makes visible and measurable impacts to help our community prosper.
Board of directors
Jeremy Johns – President
Radius Brewing Company
Aaron Sewell – Vice President
EK Real Estate
Mark McAnarney – Treasurer
City of Emporia
Tracy Weltha – Secretary
IM Design Group
Cory Falldine
Emporia State University
Eric Porter
ESB Financial
Staci Hamman
Coffelt Sign Company
Caron Daugherty
Flint Hills Technical College
Sally Sanchez
Hispanics of Today and Tomorrow
Aaron Otto
Brown's Shoe Fit
Jim Lauer
Town Royal
Organization Articles
Four Point Refresh
Those of you that are familiar with the Main Street concept understand that we have a four point strategic approach. The four points are: Organization- Capacity Building, volunteer recruitment, grass roots training, fund raising, membership, branding and community promotion Promotion- Events, activities, marketing and branding to either build consumer traffic in the immediate…
Continue Reading >A Better Community Fabric
Getting a community to work together to accomplish something tangible isn’t easy. Sure, people can sit around a table and talk, but when it comes to actually doing something… Well, that is exponentially more difficult. But, when community members come together to create tangible products from scratch, trust is created, skills are assessed, actual leaders…
Continue Reading >Changing the Way We Think Creates Lasting Solutions
The Emporia Main Street office receives calls, emails and social media outreach each week from communities seeking advice or assistance. When they talk to us about a specific project or initiative, the conversation inevitably includes the question “how did you do that?” In a “quick fix” society, that’s the question all of us want the…
Continue Reading >2015 Emporia Main Street Annual Meeting
The Emporia Main Street Annual Meeting tends to emulate the organization itself. We have a group of super busy people that get together to honor productivity and offer thanks to those people making tangible improvements to the community, then we start working on making the future even better. This year’s tribute to Steve Hanschu made the…
Continue Reading >2014 In Review At Emporia Main Street
Emporia Main Street is a results oriented organization. The culture of measurable activities that push for community growth has been fostered by you, our membership, since the inception of the program in 1991. Each year, we look back briefly to assess what was accomplished during the calendar year, and we utilize your feedback to help…
Continue Reading >Is Everyone Volunteer Material?
Some historians look back at citizen involvement in the Revolutionary War and write about the “three percent”. Although we have a romantic view of each citizen rising up in the formation of a free and independent nation, most agree that it was actually a relatively small portion of the population that actually did anything. Communities,…
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