Greetings fantastic West Bank businesses,
Happy March! 2015 is zooming by pretty quickly, so we wanted to get the word out to you about some great news and some great things we’ve got in store for this year.
Technical Assistance
Last year WBBA launched our Small Business Services, offering help with things from marketing to photography to web development. Well, we’ve recently received two grants from the City of Minneapolis and Twin Cities LISC to offer up to 10 hours of these services pro bono (free!) to West Bank businesses. We’ll be having a membership seminar focused on marketing and resources on March 26 at 2:00pm at the Southern Theater – join us then to find out more about this program and other help you are able to receive.
Member Seminars
We’ve finalized our schedule of workshops and seminars for 2015. Included in this letter please find a list of topics, times, and locations. Post it on your bulletin board and join us as often as possible! You can also find a calendar of upcoming seminars as well as WBBA committee meetings online at wbba.thewestbank.org.
Facade Grants and Bonuses!
When you think about the things that make the West Bank unique in terms of our buildings and businesses, what comes to mind? Historic landmarks? Iconic buildings? Palmers’ awesome sign? The West Bank Business Association was also recently awarded $40,000 in Facade Grant funding to help our area businesses and property owners renovate. For projects that involve an artist in creative execution (for example, a hand painted sign or a mural), they will receive a bonus $250 towards the project. For example, Acadia Cafe brought in an artist to install a beautiful hand painted sign, and the Nomad installed a mural on their south wall that not only serves as a public art piece, but also is a graffiti prevention measure.
Membership Renewal
While WBBA does receive some grant funding that allows us Technical Assistance and re-granting programs like the Facade Grant, much of our support comes directly from our membership. In fact, it’s membership dollars that allow us to execute priority items within our strategic plan which might not line up with foundation funding. These priorities come directly from the business community – things like business retention, marketing the district, and neighborhood improvement. Your membership dollars help insure we’re able to collaborate with other organizations and address these issues – from helping install new bike racks to graffiti removal throughout the district. Your membership renewal also avails you to join our board as a voting director, helping steer our priorities.
In order to have your logo included in this year’s directory, make sure to send in your 2015 membership renewal by May 15, 2015. You can renew easily online here at wbba.thewestbank.org. We hope that you’ll join WBBA today!
Sincerely,
WBBA membership committee
Pastor Jane Buckley-Farlee, Trinity Lutheran
Phillip Kelly, West Bank Community Coalition
Carla Nielson, West Bank / Cedar Riverside Safety Center
Damon Runnals, Southern Theater
Jamie Schumacher, WBBA
