We are now entering the third year of Vineland being awarded a five-year Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) designation through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. I mentioned that this includes an initial $125,000 grant to generate visible, tangible change in the Landis Avenue Downtown Vineland NPP District driven by local residents and business owners. I also mentioned that the District is anticipated to receive up to $125,000 a year for five years to assist with economic and community development. We have now been awarded our grant for FY 2024.

We have continued to have a lot of success in all of the programs that we have initiated in the past two years. Many of these you have been aware of, as we have been promoting and speaking about them in the past years, and many of the results are visible. These include our residential and commercial façade improvement grants, the AVE Bucks BOGO gift card program, Feet On The AVE program that promotes local NPP businesses, as well as our public art initiative Urban Canvases On The Ave which has allowed us to create murals. 

I want to mention here another part of this initiative—a local NPP Stakeholder Team, which plays a vital role in the creation of an Implementation Plan. It combines significant community engagement, local knowledge, and hard data to come up with projects and address local needs, and build on local assets.

The Stakeholder Team meets monthly at the Main Street Vineland office and via Zoom. The team is made up of members of the community—business and property owners, residents, clergy, and others interested in formulating projects that will make a difference in the commercial and residential climate of our downtown and surrounding areas. We are looking for a few more Stakeholder Team members. If you have an interest in being a part of this exciting group, please feel email or call our office.

The current and past programs combined with brainstorming by the team to come up with projects—business-related and residential-related—for the Implementation Plan, which will be drawn up by mid-February. While much attention is being focused on projects for the third year, other longer-term projects are also being considered.

The whole focus is to see where we are now, see the areas in which we can build, see the areas where we can change, separate the perceptions from the reality, and make our downtown area responsive to the needs, desires, and aspirations of our community. Many more details of specifics will be coming out, so stay tuned.

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MAIN STREET VINELAND URBAN CANVASES ON THE AVE MURAL DEDICATION CEREMONY Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at Noon at the First United Methodist Church 700 E. Landis Avenue (Ceremony will be behind the Church on Wood & 7th Streets in front of mural). Join us as we celebrate the dedication of this beautiful new mosaic and painted mural by Brian Hawk, David Woods, Eurhi Jones, and David McShane.  Please join us for a very brief program and refreshments. All are welcome to attend.

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Our quarterly team meetings—Economic Vitality, Design, Organization, and Promotion Teams—will take place this Thursday, January 18, at noon, at the Main Street Vineland office, 603 E. Landis Ave, and via Zoom. It’s an opportunity to help our general business climate downtown—to work with our businesses through training, ribbon-cuttings, seminars, promoting the businesses, and much more. All are invited to attend and get involved.