Community leaders and investors have a new opportunity to catalyze community-driven investment with the Downtown Revitalization Playbook in their back pockets.
Is the Playbook for you?
The Playbook helps both investors and communities alike build a pipeline of investments with a focus on Appalachian downtown districts. While not a step-by-step guide for community organizing or real estate development (look to the Playbook Appendix for related resources), it\’s the perfect tool for anyone looking to make a transformative impact on rural communities with positive returns on investment for everyone involved.
Key resources in the Playbook include:
- Case Studies: 7 real-world examples of downtown development investments throughout Central Appalachia.
- Readiness Factors: an Investment Readiness Assessment Tool with a description of various factors that signal when a community is ready for investment.
- Helping Groups Organize for Investment: an overview of the stages of investment in a downtown development project.
- Investment Strategies: a breakdown of specific strategies and types of investment.
About the Project
Thriving Downtowns: An Investment Playbook for Rural Appalachia is a result of years of collaboration by more than a hundred community development leaders across the region working to connect investment to underserved communities and, ultimately, support downtown redevelopment and revitalization. The Playbook was commissioned by the Appalachian Funders Network (AFN) and the Central Appalachia Network (CAN), and funded by grants from the Appalachian Investment Ecosystem Initiative (AIEI), Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, and Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK).
The Downtown Revitalization Playbook was authored by a collaborative team, with broad input from regional stakeholders (learn more here). The website is produced and hosted by Invest Appalachia.
Get Started: Take the Readiness Assessment
The readiness assessment helps communities identify what they can leverage for downtown revitalization while also providing context for how the community can overcome challenges.
