Statement of Problem/Need Being Addressed

City of Lawrence

Outside Agency Funding

APPLICATION

General Information: Each year, the City Commission considers requests for the allocation of dollars to a number of agencies that provide services benefiting the Lawrence community. The decision on funding a request will be made during the City’s annual budgeting process. The decision will be based upon the availability of funds, the need demonstrated through the agency’s application, the stated objectives of the applicant’s program, past performance by the agency in adhering to funding guidelines (as appropriate), and the ability to measure progress toward the program objectives.

Instructions: Applications for 2008 funding must be complete and submitted electronically to the City Manager’s Office at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by the deadline of 5:00 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Questions? Contact Casey Liebst, Budget Manager at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us or at 785-832-3409.

Section I. Applicant Information

Legal Name of Agency:		Downtown Lawrence, Inc.
Name of Program for Which Funding is Requested:			Downtown Lawrence Promotion and Improvement
Primary Contact Person:		Rick Marquez
Address:	900 Massachusetts, Suite 100 Lawrence, KS 66044
Telephone:	785-842-3883		Fax:	785-838-9781
Email:	Director@downtownlawrence.com

Section 2. Request Information

A.	Amount of funds requested from the City for this program for calendar year 2008:	$47,000.00
B.	Will these funds be used for capital outlay (equipment or facilities) in 2008? No. If so, please describe:
C.	Will these funds be used to leverage other funds in 2008? If so, how: Yes. We will continue to leverage city funds with matching promotional funds from dues and members participating in the cooperative marketing strategy. Please see Section 3. Subsection F.
D.	Did you receive City funding for this program in 2007? If so, list the amount and source for funding (i.e. General Fund, Alcohol Fund, etc.): Yes, $47,500 from the general fund.
E.	If you are requesting an increase in funding over 2007, please explain exactly how the additional funds will be used: No increase.

Section 3. Agency and Program Budget information

A.	How many paid full time employees work for your agency?	1	Volunteers?			15+

B.	What percent of your total 2007 budget goes to employee salaries and benefits?				34%

C.	What percent of your total 2007 budget is used for operating expenses?			9%

D.	What is the total estimated cost to provide the program in 2008?			$100,000.00

E.	What percent of 2008 program costs are being requested from the City?			47%

F.	List other anticipated sources of funding and funding amount for this program in 2008:
	Anticipated Funding Source				Dollar Amount
	DLI Membership dues				$33,000.00
	Cooperative promotional income				$15,000.00
	SD gift certificate income				$5,000.00


	Outside Agency funding				$47,000.00

	TOTAL 2008 PROGRAM BUDGET				$100,000.00

Section 4. Statement of Problem/Need to Be Addressed By Program

A. Provide a brief statement of the problem or need your agency proposes to address with the requested funding and/or the impact of not funding this program. The statement should include characteristics of the client population that will be served by this program. If possible, include statistical data to document this need.

Unlike the planned developments in Wyandotte, Johnson and Jackson Counties, Downtown Lawrence is a beautiful collection of small owners and entrepreneurs creating the blend of opportunities that make it a central destination for the needs of the city’s residents and a leading draw for the city’s tourist, visitor and convention business. The negative side of the lack of central homogeny is a lack of a single voice, coordination of marketing and the establishment of a unified brand. In order to serve not only its members, but also every Downtown merchant, service provider and citizen, DLI serves as the voice and economic development leader for all of downtown. We feel that a program of coordinated promotion, community events, and small business assistance will provide a solid base for success.

B. How was the need for this program determined?

Downtown Lawrence, Inc. was formed over 30 years ago by concerned business owners in an attempt to band together to accomplish the same goals mentioned above. They knew then, as we know now, that the strength of the area and the organization is through its eclectic mix and collective experience. Every business owner also knows that it is vital to constantly be able to draw new customers to its business and work to ensure that they are meeting the needs of both new and established customers. Unlike venues in other areas where there is common property ownership, independent assessment ability, and a substantial base of million dollar companies, Downtown’s eclectic and independent mix of merchants must band together with the City to fulfill their goals. DLI regards all of Downtown Lawrence as its place of business and everyone who comes here for whatever reason as its customers.

C. Why should this problem/need be addressed by the City?

It is in the City’s interest to help ensure that this historic and vital community core remains vibrant for years to come so that it can be enjoyed by Lawrence residents, visitors, tourists and conventioneers. We have an authentic 19^th century working Downtown business district, something that is the envy of just about every community in the country. Promotion of the area serves not only every downtown business owner, but also the entire community. It provides Lawrencians with a wonderful community center and the City with the primary draw for out of town tax dollars. DLI’s program of promotion, event planning, and business assistance offers vital community enrichment.

Section 4. Description of Program Services

A. Provide a brief description of the service you will provide and explain how it will respond to the need you identified in Section 3. The description should include how many clients will be served, and should describe as specifically as possible the interaction that will take place between the provider and the user of the service.

Downtown Lawrence, Inc. will continue with its three tiered promotional program; mass market advertising, targeted marketing, and community events. We will continue with successful projects such as Get Downtown (with the Chamber of Commerce), Sidewalk Sale, Downtown Lawrence Farmers’ Market, Brown Bag Concerts (with Lawrence Parks and Recreation), Mass Street Mosey (with Cottonwood), the Lawrence Christmas Parade, and the new Downtown Lawrence Film Noir Festival. It is important to maintain Downtown as the community center. It creates a gathering place for Lawrence residents and a destination for out of town visitors and tourists. We look forward to creating new events and providing new reasons to come downtown. We will expand the promotion we do by offering additional opportunities for businesses to participate both financially and creatively. We have begun a program of direct mail advertising that combines mailing lists from participants in an effort to market downtown to an ever widening audience. Finally, we will use information collected from business owners to plan a series of business assistance programs. We will also use plans from our 2007 downtown planning project to follow through on items such as NRA designation and downtown redevelopment ideas.

We will also work to be able to offer opportunities to all downtown business owners. The ability to offer membership perks to our dues paying members is vital to our plan to grow the organization, but we also understand that promotion of all of downtown is the way we will be successful. Ultimately, our clients are all the citizens of Lawrence, as well as the hundreds of thousands of annual tourists, visitors and conventioneers.

Finally, we will continue to concentrate more of our efforts and resources on promotion of the Downtown district and community events. In 2006 DLI cut salary expenses by $10,000 (10% of its total program costs) while upgrading the sole paid position in the organization to a full time position. This allowed us to redistribute financial resources to our promotion, advertising, and event programs while having a staff member who has the time and ability to accomplish the goals.

B. Describe any efforts your agency has made to explore the community to determine if there are any other agencies providing similar types of services. What efforts have you made to coordination services?

We do not feel that there is another organization in Lawrence that is equipped to provide the program we have described. There are other groups that provide a few similar services, but they neither do all we do nor are focused on the Downtown area as we are. As a nonprofit organization, we are able to represent the downtown community as a whole. We will continue to offer incentives to our dues paying members as they provide a substantial amount of our operating budget, but we will also continue to promote the ENTIRE downtown area. That said, in the past, we have partnered with a variety of groups on projects when it proved to work towards the goals we have described. We have participated with the Chamber of Commerce and KU Alumni Association on the Get Downtown block party, Lawrence Parks and Recreation on the Brown Bag Concerts and the new Film Noir Festival, Cottonwood, Inc. on the Mass Street Mosey (part of their Salute event), and the Convention and Visitors Bureau on advertising and marketing. It is our intention to continue with these partnerships as they serve to help us to succeed.

Section 5. Program Objectives

Please provide three specific program objectives for 2008. Objectives should demonstrate the purpose of the program and measure the amount of service delivered or the effectiveness of the services delivered. A time frame and numerical goal should also be included. Examples include, “75% of clients receiving job training will retain their job one year after being hired,” “increased fundraising efforts will result in a 15% increase in donations in 2008,” “credit counseling services will be provided to 600 clients in 2008,” “new digital arts program will serve 275 students in 2008” etc. Applicants will be expected to report their progress toward meeting these objectives in their six month and annual reports to the City.

	Program Objectives

1.	We will design, produce and execute two editions of the promotional Downtown Lawrence Map and Visitor’s Guide, three direct mail/newspaper insert campaigns, holiday promotion and events, and continue with our coordinated mass media advertising campaign to entice shoppers and visitors from Lawrence and the entire area to come to Downtown Lawrence to shop, dine, engage in cultural and artistic activities, and spend the night. We will accomplish this while increasing the amount of funding provided by participating businesses.

2.	We will plan and stage a minimum of three business assistance seminars/meetings/workshops to provide all downtown business owners the opportunity to sharpen their business skills and address issues that may be providing difficulties. We will work with the KU Small Business Development Center to accomplish this.

3.	We will create, plan, stage, and promote two new community events in addition to the current list of events detailed above. We will invite complimentary community organizations to participate.

Please return completed application electronically to cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by

5:00 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Office Use Only