Foust

The city has a new main street manager.

Jamie Baser Foust was Hollidaysburg’s main street manager for several years, prior to a 10-year stint with UPMC Altoona’s marketing department.

Foust was introduced Friday at a city Redevelopment Authority event that honored the five local organizations whose tax-credit-based contributions totaling $3.3 million over six years are funding Foust’s position for that period — while also providing other help for the city.

Altoona has had main street managers before — the most recent of whom retired in 2011.

During the month Foust has been on the job, she has been meeting with property owners, people working on development projects and organizations that are planning events — while also trying to figure out who else she needs to partner with, she said Friday, after the meeting.

There are many individuals, organizations and businesses “doing exciting things” downtown, and her role is to collaborate with them and help with communications among them and with the city, Foust said.

She is helping start Facebook and Instagram, along with a downtown website, she said.

The main pillars of a main street program are business support, promotion, event planning and collaboration, according to an explanatory flyer that Foust provided.

The business support includes helping owners navigate processes and programs and identify opportunities for growth; coordination of advertising efforts and provision of advice on increasing visibility; foot traffic and community engagement.

Promotion includes the development and execution of marketing for the downtown, placing content on social media and helping create a downtown Altoona brand or “recognizable identity.”

Planning of events requires partnering with organizations that already produce events and programs and helping to create new events and programs.

Collaboration involves connecting businesses, nonprofits, civic groups and city departments with one another, attending meetings that involve downtown interests and helping to make all downtown revitalization efforts as efficient as possible.

The city has had two previous periods during which main street managers have served, according to information provided by Foust.

Jane Sheffield began a stint in that position in 1989, serving until 1993, upon which Sam Loth took over, until the program ended for lack of funding in early 1995.

Bob Scholl began a stint in the post — then called center city coordinator — in 2002, serving until his retirement nine years later. Altoona Blair County Development Corp. was unable to afford to replace Scholl at that time, according to Patrick Miller, then executive director of the Greater Altoona Economic Development Corp., which received funding for the post from ABCD Corp.

The grants that will fund Foust’s position and also pay for implementation of various initiatives recommended by the city’s comprehensive plan, were awarded through the Neighborhood Partnership Program, part of the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Neighborhood Assistance Program.

The partnership program enables long-term private-public collaboration — for five years and more — reimbursing 90% to 95% of participants’ donations through reimbursement of their state tax obligations, according to a DCED web page.

The participants are M&T Bank, Sheetz, Blair Image Elements, Curry Supply Holdings and NPC Companies.

Under the program, the public-private partnership has provided funding for community benefits that otherwise wouldn’t have happened, according to Steve McKnight, CEO of ABCD Corp.

The effort represents the public and private sector coming together over a shared vision, said Nora Habig, vice president for M&T in central and western Pennsylvania. “(It’s) a powerful example of what’s possible when business investment is aligned with community priorities,” Habig stated in an email following the meeting.

M&T’s participation reflects its response to the Community Reinvestment Act, a law that “exists to encourage financial institutions to meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate and to combat redlining,” as stated in an email from an M&T spokesman.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.