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(Editor's Note: This is an
edited version of a submission by Dr. Ben Scott, regional
coordinator for the Northern Dauphin Revitalization Project.)
The Northern Dauphin
Revitalization Project is gaining momentum throughout the region and
is building credibility with the municipalities it serves as a
positive force for change.
More than $800,000 in grant
applications have been submitted since the beginning of 2008 toward
a goal of $2 million for the entire year. The four Main Street
committees, through which NDRP gets local people involved, has
increased to five committees. And the immediate future looks
incredibly bright.
The mission. NDRP began
full-time operations in the summer of 2006. Its mission is the
identification of abandoned and blighted downtown buildings in
Halifax, Millersburg, Elizabethville, Gratz, Lykens, Williamstown,
and Tower City. Revitalization helps people replace these properties
with 21st century businesses in one of three categories: tourism,
technology or education.
Grant writing. Early this
year, the Millersburg Ferry Boat Association contacted NDRP with a
request for help in securing $90,000 in USDA grants to repair and
market the historic ferry boat operation.
Also, two requests for
federal grant money have been submitted: one for $328,000 to bring
on more full-time professional help within NDRP's Elizabethville
headquarters, the other for $251,000 to convert the building -
formerly the Elizabethville branch of Mid Penn Bank - to
alternative energy power and to restore it to its original 1907
appearance.
Lykens Borough and Wiconisco
Twp. have granted NDRP with matching funds as leverage for state
grants through Sen. John Gordner and Rep. Sue Helm for $19,000 to
pay for site plans along the proposed Lykens Valley Rail Trail
project (Sentinel, March 4 issue).
An as-yet unnamed source is
considering a donation of $32,000 to fund the site plan for a
segment of the trail, as well as the engineering and architectural
designs to restore historic L&W Field.
NDRP has assisted members of
the Berrysburg Community Center by submitting an $83,000 grant to
replace the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system in the
former Berrysburg Elementary School. The school now serves as the
municipal building and a community meeting facility for groups and
families in northern Dauphin County.
The NDRP was awarded a
$10,000 grant last year from the Greater Harrisburg Foundation's
Harold N. and Thelma G. Lenker Trust to fund a feasibility study on
future uses of the Colonnade Theater in Millersburg. NDRP filed
additional grant applications for the remaining $13,500 needed to
begin this study and is attempting to identify other Millersburg
foundations for help with this, and other projects that will
directly improve Millersburg's downtown business district.
Future plans. Applications
already are under way to fund construction of the eastern half of
the Lykens Valley Rail Trail project (from Williamstown to
Elizabethville) at an average cost of $100,000 per mile and for the
restoration of L&W Field as the largest trailhead along the 23-mile
destination. Anticipated cost of this project is $250,000. The NDRP
is working together on these applications, along with the Lykens
Chamber of Commerce, Lykens Borough and Wiconisco Twp., with a
submission goal of Friday, April 25.
Committees are formed.
Revitalization works only when people decide to invest their time,
energy, and financial resources into the region. NDRP is comprised
of five regional committees and one Advisory Council in each
community, a total of 12 people groups.
The Organization
Committee/Executive Committee has been engaged in several
fundraisers as well as actively recruiting people to serve in
various capacities, both in the committees as well as in the
Elizabethville home office. Three new office volunteers have been
added since Jan. 1, including a specialist in parks and recreation
reporting, an ambassador for Rails to Trails and a building
maintenance and improvements specialist.
Two new volunteer positions
are presently under review: an agri-tourism coordinator who will
work with several farmers who have indicated an interest in opening
their operations to visitors; and a specialist to investigate a
business incubator.
The Economic Restructuring
Committee is gleaning valuable survey information in Millersburg,
Elizabethville, and Tower City. Using either the Customer Intercept
Survey or Business Owner’s Survey from the PA Downtown Center, these
volunteers are collecting information about the way people currently
use the downtowns and what they want to see happen in the future.
Volunteers are needed in all seven communities to continue this
important process which helps make the case for prospective business
owners to relocate to Northern Dauphin County.
The Design Committee recently
awarded more than $15,000 in state funds for its annual fa ade grant
program. The committee meets monthly to consider new fa ade grant
proposals from downtown property owners in all seven communities and
will be revising and publishing a new version of the Grant
Guidelines in mid-summer 2008.
The Promotion and Marketing
Committee, a joint effort between NDRP’s Promotion Committee and the
Northern Dauphin Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Marketing Committee,
has just published its first four-color, four-panel brochure
entitled “Come to the Quiet Side of Northern Dauphin County.” More
than 60,000 copies will be displayed in every tourism-oriented
business in the region (more than 80 such businesses exist now) as
well as at every roadside welcome center in central PA.
The Tourism Task Force, a
sub-division of the Promotion and Marketing Committee, presented its
first tourism training seminar at the Ned Smith Center for Nature
and Art in February 2008. More than 25 businesses were represented
at this training event, provided free by the PA Downtown Center. The
region’s first full-page tourism advertisement will be published in
the 2008 Annual edition of the Hershey-Harrisburg Tourism Guidebook,
set for release this month. A new website, VisitNorthernDauphin.com,
will be launched in April to coordinate with the Guidebook and
brochure to drive internet traffic to the regional website
(NDRCC.org).
Follow-up communications and
the next training event for tourism are being prepared for release
next month. Business owners in the fields of travel, marketing,
restaurants, hotel/motel/B&B, and destinations are encouraged to
contact NDRP to be included in future initiatives, including joint
advertising and cooperative marketing approaches.
A fifth Main Street Committee
has just been introduced at training meetings sponsored by the PA
Downtown Center in early March 2008. The Safe, Clean, and Green
Committee is a future component of NDRP’s people project for
encouraging safety in the downtowns, cleaner streets, buildings, and
sidewalks, and green havens (parks, streetscapes, and citiscapes)
for community enjoyment. Revitalization seeks a committed person to
chair this regional committee and recruit other volunteers.
The Future. The Northern
Dauphin Revitalization Project is constantly looking towards the
future as it develops its technology and education vision
statements. Technological investigations presently underway include
a partnership in alternative energy that could bring both white
collar and blue collar jobs to the region. Estimators, marketers,
and financiers will be needed to explain solar, wind, and water
power for homes, businesses, and farms. While plumbers,
electricians, roofers, and general contractors will be needed to
install the systems throughout central PA. Light manufacturing and
clerical help may be needed to coordinate efforts in this Green
Project. Plans for education are still being formulated for release
in late 2008 or early 2009.
To become involved in any of
these projects, contact NDRP at 717-362-1438 or HYPERLINK "mailto:NDRP@epix.net"
NDRP@epix.net or NDRCC.org.
NDRP envisions a storefront
in one of the communities that will provide start-up businesses
space in order to try out new business ideas. With a low risk for
the entrepreneur and support from NDRP to lay a solid foundation,
those with an idea, product or service can test the waters before
giving up full-time jobs.
-
The Economic
Restructuring Committee is gleaning valuable survey information
in Millersburg, Elizabethville and Tower City. These volunteers
are collecting information about the way people currently use
the downtowns and what they want to see happen in the future.
Volunteers are needed in all seven communities to continue this
important process which helps make the case for prospective
business owners to relocate to northern Dauphin County.
-
The Design Committee
recently received more than $15,000 in state funds for its
annual facade grant program. The committee meets monthly to
consider new facade grant proposals from downtown property
owners in all seven anchor communities and will be revising and
publishing a new version of the Grant Guidelines this summer.
-
The Promotion and
Marketing Committee, a joint effort between NDRP's Promotion
Committee and the Northern Dauphin Regional Chamber of
Commerce's Marketing Committee, has just published its first
four-color, four-panel brochure, "Come to the Quiet Side of
Northern Dauphin County.'' More than 60,000 copies will be
displayed in more than 80 tourism-oriented businesses in the
region as well as at every roadside welcome center in central
Pennsylvania.
-
The Tourism Task Force, a
sub-division of the Promotion and Marketing Committee, presented
its first tourism training seminar at the Ned Smith Center for
Nature and Art in February. More than 25 businesses were
represented at this event, provided free of charge by the PA
Downtown Center.
The region's first full-page
tourism advertisement will be published in the 2008 Annual edition
of the Hershey-Harrisburg Tourism Guidebook, set for release this
spring. A new Website,
www.VisitNorthernDauphin.com, will be launched in April to
coordinate with the Guidebook and brochure to drive Internet traffic
to the regional Website (www.NDRCC.org).
Follow-up communications, as
well as the next training seminar for tourism, are being prepared
for release next month. Business owners in the fields of travel,
marketing, restaurants, hotel/motel/bed and breakfast, and
destinations are encouraged to contact NDRP to be included in future
projects, some of which will include joint advertising and
cooperative marketing ventures.
-
A fifth Main Street
Committee has just been introduced. The Safe, Clean, and Green
Committee will encourage safety in the downtowns, cleaner
streets, buildings, and sidewalks, and parks for community
enjoyment. The NDRP is seeking a committed person to chair this
regional committee and recruit other volunteers.
Alternative energy venture
possible. The Northern Dauphin Revitalization Project is constantly
looking towards the future as it develops vision statements on
technology and education.
A partnership in alternative
energy business that could bring both white-collar and blue-collar
jobs to the region is being investigated. Estimators, marketers, and
financiers will be needed to explain solar, wind, and water power
for homes, businesses and farms. Additional information on this
venture still is being formulated for re-lease late this year or
early next year.
For more information on the
NDRP and its projects, call 362-1438, e-mail NDRP@epix.net or log
on to www.ndrcc.org
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