Organization

Bringing people together to work toward the same goals

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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

Strategy
Operations
Fundraising
Partnership building

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

Make growing our local educational institutions a community affair!

By Jessica Buchholz | July 25, 2022

Students contribute substantially to our local economy. They are renters, customers, employees, volunteers, event attendees, and may become permanent residents. Each student that moves to the area contributes approximately $15,000 per year to the local economy. A growing educational system makes our entire region younger, more vibrant, and improves our ability to adapt to change.…

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Imaginarium to be Next Business in Emporia Main Street Incubator Space

By Jessica Buchholz | June 28, 2022

Emporia, KS – The Incubator Space at Emporia Main Street will be filling up soon with engineering materials, robotics, and science supplies for kids to tinker with. Founded by two certified teachers, Melanie Curtis and Dell Jacob, Imaginarium is a new nonprofit organization created to bring STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education to area youth. Imaginarium,…

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Emporia Main Street RECEIVES 2022 MAIN STREET AMERICA ACCREDITATION

By Jessica Buchholz | June 13, 2022

Emporia Main Street has been designated as an Accredited Main Street America™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of Accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™. “We are extremely proud to recognize…

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The 22-23 Membership Year is HERE!

By Jessica Buchholz | June 10, 2022

New Year, New Name and Things Are Looking Up! Time to register. As we move into another year for our community and Emporia Main Street, we say things are “Looking Up”. After the past two years of trials, tribulations, tears (both good and bad) and A LOT of hard work, Emporia Main Street board members,…

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Unbound Gravel Slate of Activities.

By Jessica Buchholz | June 2, 2022

The basics about scheduling and activities this week for the Unbound Cycling event. A lot of people have asked about various elements of the Unbound Gravel event over the past couple of weeks. The cycling event is one of our larger activities in the region, and several ancillary events help support the primary race day.Here…

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Information from the Main Street Now Conference that we can use in our region.

By Jessica Buchholz | June 2, 2022

It has been two years since Main Street America was able to host their national conference due to pandemic protocols. Staff and volunteers were able to attend this year’s Main Street NOW event last week in Richmond, Virginia and we always attempt to convey information learned at training sessions to our community at large post-event.…

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