Oklahoma Main Street

In 1985, the state legislature created the Oklahoma Main Street Program. Housed in the State Department of Commerce, the Main Street program was originally designed as a demonstration program for cities under 50,000 in population.

Since 1986, 44 communities have received technical assistance and training in the Main Street approach to downtown revitalization. For more information about the Oklahoma Main Street Program on the Oklahoma Dept of Commerce website.  Follow the "community" links.

For more information about the National Main Street Center, follow this external link.

Ardmore Main Street

Cordell Main Street

Main Street Duncan, Inc.

Durant Main Street

East Side Capitol Gateway

El REno Main Street

Main Street Enid, Inc.

Hobart Main Street

Hooker Main Street

Idabel main Street

Main Street Miami

Newkirk Main Street Authority

Okmulgee Main Street

Pauls Valley Main Street

Perkins Main Street

Perry Main Street

Main Street Prague

Sayre Main Street

Downtown Shawnee

Stillwater Main Street

Stockyards City Main Street

Sulphur Main Street

tahlequah Main Street

Watonga Main Street

Wilburton Main Street

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Getting Started With Community Housing Development: Clearly, rural housing development has the potential for providing substantial positive impact on small town economies, but the question for most communities is how to get started when they are facing the seemingly insurmountable problems of housing stock deterioration and high development costs. An anonymous author said, "Even the longest journey begins with the first step."

The first step in community housing development is to get organized. Organize a community housing task force to take charge of this issue and to develop housing goals and strategies for achieving them. Most experts agree that the wider the membership base of this task force, the better. Members should be recruited from the local media, public officials, special needs populations, homebuilders, real estate agents, bankers, non-profit housing providers, Chamber of Commerce, local retailers, educators, etc. It is even a good idea to invite those citizens who have a stake in the status quo and who may feel threatened by proposed changes. Allowing them to have a voice in what changes take place may limit conflicts that will undoubtedly rise to the surface.

The steps necessary to begin a program that addresses housing issues in a community include the following:

• Form a community-wide housing task force.

• Utilizing experienced opinion and secondary quantitative data, identify the major housing problems being faced by the community and draft some preliminary goals to be achieved by the program.

• Conduct a local housing needs assessment--possibly through the use of a housing assessment survey.

• Reexamine preliminary goals and devise strategies/action plans to accomplish the goals.

• Make plans to implement and monitor the strategies.

The Role of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service: The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES) is in a position to assist communities with housing development efforts in the following ways.

• OCES has the resources to develop a written community housing and population profile by accessing the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, the ORIGINS online database that contains Oklahoma demographic and economic statistics, and other government sources of data. The profile may also contain estimates of local housing supply and demand.

• The OCES is also able to develop survey instruments that meet the needs of the task force and tabulate responses from completed surveys. It is generally the policy of the OCES to allow the community to conduct, distribute, and collect their own survey.

• The OCES may also facilitate strategic planning workshops in order to help task forces identify problems, draft goals, and develop strategic action plans.

• Jack Frye Area Community Development Extension Specialist, Ada, OK (580)-332-4100 jfrye@okstate.edu

• Stan Ralstin Area Community Development Extension Specialist, Enid, OK (580)-233-5295 ralstin@okstate.edu

• Mike Woods Extension Rural Development Specialist, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK (405)-744-9837 mdwoods@okstate.edu

The Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency has a wonderful guide to housing resources available online. Follow this external link.

E-Commerce

E-Commerce is Important to Communities:  Internet commerce has become a booming sector of the nation's retail market.  Forrester Research, Inc. estimates that national business to consumer retail sales totaled $18.1 billion in 1999.  Retailers and shoppers alike are rushing to get online, but e-commerce has implications for rural communities, as well.

Local government officials who depend on revenues from sales taxes administered on retail items to finance their respective budgets predict that that this major shift toward online shopping will reduce those revenues.  The result, they fear, is that local services will have to be reduced or local taxes will have to be raised--or both. 

The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce: The advisory commission was created by Congress in October of 1998 to study the issue of taxation and Internet commerce.  The commission presented its report to Congress in April of 2000, and is now disbanded.  Their website is still available at the following link:  www.ecommercecommission.org/ .    

The Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP):  Formed in March of 2000, the goal of the SSTP is the simplification of state and local sales and use taxes and the standardization of tax administration across states.  View their website here: www.geocities.com/streamlined2000/  

Other sites with various points of view on this topic include the following:

The National Governor's Association

The National Retail Federation

The National Association of Counties

e-fairness

Other sites with information and data concerning e-commerce include:

The Oklahoma Electronic Commerce Connection

Ernst and Young

Forrester Research, Inc.

Vertex, Inc.

The Boston Consulting Group

The International Data Corporation

Jupiter Communications, Inc.

Online magazines about e-commerce include:

E-Commerce Times

e-Marketer

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Return to Community Economic Development

The Century Communities Program is administered by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. For more information visit their website.  The following information was taken from that website.

Every now and then, it's healthy for us to take a good hard look at ourselves and discover areas where we have opportunities to improve, as well as pat ourselves on the back for what we've accomplished. People do it. Communities can do it too. So do we.

We took a good look at the CERTIFIED CITIES program and decided we could make a more effective community development tool. That's how the Oklahoma Century Communities Program was created.

PURPOSE - The Oklahoma Century Communities Program is specifically designed for Oklahoma communities to evaluate themselves in the areas of Human Resources, Economic Development, Local Governmental Structure, Community Services and Community Infrastructure.

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce has developed tracks, or an easy to follow map if you will, that helps communities attain their own particular goals. The Oklahoma Century Communities program will help communities maximize their own best assets, set goals, organize and make improvements based on their own evaluation.

BENEFITS/RECOGNITION - Community benefits from participation include self evaluation, generation of community pride, community awareness, establishment of a leadership organization, volunteerism, a community plan, common focus/vision, creation of public/private partnerships and overall community readiness.

While the Oklahoma Century Communities program is not a competitive program, a recognition component has been developed. It is this statewide recognition, received upon successfully completing the program, that is the most obvious benefit to participating in the program. Additional recognition includes a plaque, signage and celebratory events.

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