Highlight local small businesses for Small Business Saturday
Saturday, November 28, 2020, is Small Business Saturday. This day is all about celebrating downtown businesses and choosing to shop small instead of going to a big box retail store. When you support shopping small, you support your neighbor, your family, your friend, and more! In fact, according to American Express, for every dollar spent at a small business in the U.S., approximately 67 cents stays in the local community. So when you Shop Small on Small Business Saturday, and all year long, you can help create a big impact.
In partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA), OCRA is planning to celebrate your downtown businesses to help promote and encourage people to shop in person at one of your downtown retailers, restaurants, and more. We will help to support this by creating an online map! Submit the small businesses you wish to highlight by completing an online form and placing them into reference categories. Once they are submitted, our team will build them into a Google Map. This map will be featured on our website and social media accounts to encourage people to shop small.
For further Shop Small resources, check out:
Ready to submit your small businesses? Fill out this form.
Once submissions are received, you will find the map on our website. This is the first of a few ways OCRA will celebrate Small Business Saturday; so be sure to stay tuned!
Do you have full or part-time staff in your Main Street organization? If so, save the date for these upcoming trainings with National Main Street Center:
Leadership Development for Main Street Directors
Friday, August 28: from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET
People are Main Street’s greatest asset. Our organizations depend on the dedication of volunteer leaders and professionals that invest their time, skills, and passion to bring vitality back to the heart of their communities. This session will highlight the multifaceted roles of Main Street Directors in leading, managing, and executing the programs and talking through the integrated components of the revitalization journey. From working with Boards to leading through strategy, to fostering a team culture that empowers volunteers to plan and take action, this session provides important tools to help Main Street Directors maximize the value and impact of people in the success of the program and the organization’s efforts. Register in advance by clicking here.
Leadership Development for Main Street Boards
Friday, August 28: from Noon to 1:30 p.m. (ET)
The role of the Main Street Board of Directors is crucial for the success of historic commercial districts and revitalization programs across the country. This session will provide an insight on those responsibilities and on how boards can elevate their roles through strategy and to align the work of the Main Street organizations. These strategies can lead recovery efforts for their districts through the integrated components of The Main Street Approach. Register in advance by clicking here.
As part of our next thematic initiative, Indiana Humanities will sponsor a tour of the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibition. Water/Ways is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide.
The Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibition dives into water—an essential component of life on our planet, environmentally, culturally, and historically. Learn more about exhibit content here.
Six communities will be selected to host the exhibit for six weeks each, and they will receive extensive training, funding, and other resources from the expert staff of the Smithsonian and Indiana Humanities. Each of the six hosts will also curate a unique section of the exhibit that explores their community’s relationship to water. Learn more about the last Smithsonian traveling exhibit’s visit to Indiana Crossroads by clicking here.
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