Tia Cole - Community Engagement Director speaks to LCTV
On this segment of the Lynn Lowdown we spoke with Tia Cole, Director of Community Engagement at Lynn Main Streets. ______________________________________ Find out more about Lynn Community Television: www.lynntv.org info@lynntv.org Lynn Community Television Twitter.com/lynncommunitytv YouTube.com/LynnTVOrg Instagram.com/lynntelevision
More about the IOBY campaign - DONATE HERE
Supporting our Small Business Community.
Supporting our small business community has always been essential and is even more so now with the current crisis still drastically impacting or community, especially with the devastating effects it has caused to our immigrant-owned business community. Complimentarily aligned with the work of a Shared Streets & Spaces Grant, in partnership with the City of Lynn, Lynn Main Streets (LMS) has been working with many of these small businesses in our downtown to provide resources and support restaurants and retail businesses throughout the Downtown through ‘creative reopening’ solutions that allow for safe, equitable and financially beneficial outdoor activations.
Creativity as an economic driver
This initiative is termed ‘Creative Reopening’ due to the innovative and artistic nature of adding community ‘place-keeping’ elements to creatively implement accessible outdoor activation spaces. These particular elements seek to transform pockets of our downtown with vibrant, inclusive design elements and signage that featuring current safety and accessibility measures. Through this initiative, we will create a welcoming, walkable environment, and sustain our businesses’ outdoor longevity throughout multiple seasons.
Empowering the Local Creative Workforce
Through this initiative, there will be a heavy emphasis on contracting local creative professionals either individually or in collaboration with a local Lynn based organization. Exciting partnerships including the RAW artworks Good2go program led by Bruce Orr and local artist Bedelyn Dabel are already in the works and this fundraising campaign will help us deepen the connections and increase collaborations while also fairly compensating the creative professionals that are hired to implement these activations.
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the steps
Upon installation of the utilitarian equipment delivered by Lynn DPW we actively engage and pursue local artists in partnership with the small businesses and the City of Lynn to create a welcoming, inviting, and positive spaces for outdoor dining and activations. In addition, we document and share all of the information and collect data from the small businesses to continue supporting them through the pandemic into the Winter.
why we're doing it
The small businesses in Lynn are the lifeblood of the Downtown and with the implementation of outdoor dining and the current crisis, it was a natural fit to employ local creative professionals to beautify and enhance the utilitarian safety equipment that was installed for the outdoor activations while also utilizing placemaking and placekeeping elements to provide a safe and positive outdoor experience. The cycle of economic development and the intersection of the creative economy and the Downtown economy are natural bedfellows and fostering and growing those connections are critical to the survival of so many small businesses while also keeping the public safe. Supporting our Small Business Community.
Supporting our small business community has always been essential and is even more so now with the current crisis still drastically impacting or community, especially with the devastating effects it has caused to our immigrant-owned business community. Complimentarily aligned with the work of a Shared Streets & Spaces Grant, in partnership with the City of Lynn, Lynn Main Streets (LMS) has been working with many of these small businesses in our downtown to provide resources and support restaurants and retail businesses throughout the Downtown through ‘creative reopening’ solutions that allow for safe, equitable and financially beneficial outdoor activations.
