Partnership For Community Development Ltd

Causes: Philanthropy, Public Foundations

Mission: To enhance the economic and community vitality of the area of the town/village of hamilton, ny. During 2014, partnership for community development focused its efforts in the following areas: (1) marketing and development, (2) hamilton highlights, (3) micro-assistance grant program, (4)bike project and (5) the great chocolate train festival.

Programs: Marketing and developmentnew hamilton logo & tagline: we completed the rebranding process that was reported on at our last annual meeting and unveiled hamilton's new logo and tagline at reception at the palace theater, which was attended by over 100 community members. New website - www. Thisishamiltonny. Com: with the creation of a new hamilton logo and tagline, it was the goal to create a central portal website for hamilton. This website serves as the single point of contact for tourism, economic development and general information for new residents. It encompasses the pcd, hba (hamilton business alliance) and hamilton initiative. It is updated daily. Buy madison week promotion: the madison county planning department has launched the "buy madison" campaign in collaboration with madison county tourism, oneida savings bank and local chambers of commerce. The buy madison mission is to promote local purchasing of goods and services, from visitors and residents alike, to improve local businesses and to generate sales tax revenue for madison county and its municipalities. Buy madison week was may 4-11, 2014. To generate excitement about local shopping and to educate our residents about all that our local businesses have to offer, visitors and residents were given a punch card with participating businesses' logos and addresses on it. If they purchased anything in seven of the 26 participating businesses, got their card punched and returned the completed card, they were entered into a drawing for a grand prize worth $600 in gift cards from hamilton businesses. This initiative was promoted via newsprint, social media and online advertising. Punch cards, posters and digital graphics were provided to the participating merchants. Social media: we continue to maintain thisishamiltonny's facebook page (www. Facebook. Com/hamiltonny). Updated several times daily, we have increased user engagement and "likes" substantially over the course of the past year. E-newsletter: each month we create and distribute an electronic newsletter to more than 350 contacts, including local businesses, active community members and donors. Housing task force: the pcd formed a housing task force which is charged with developing a broad-based understanding of housing in greater hamilton -- one that takes into account all points of view and follows from pcd's founding principles of bringing village, town and college resources to bear in addressing issues as a community. Streetscape banners: in partnership with the village of hamilton and the hba, the pcd facilitated the design, printing and installation of the new streetscape banners. There is one set of banners for fall, winter and spring/summer featuring hamilton's new logo and tagline and photos depicting life in hamilton for that respective season. We coordinated the second annual "celebrating business in hamilton" awards. Nominations were sought for business of the year, entrepreneur of the year and economic development advocate of the year. Nominations were considered by a panel of judges, and the awards ceremony was held during a joint pcd/hamilton business alliance (hba) annual meeting which was open to the community. Welcome center: the hamilton welcome center is located at 11 payne street and is open 24/7 year round. Local merchants are invited to stock it with promotional material and we accept posters promoting community events. Sba business excellence award: the pcd nominated parry's general store for the 2014 u. S. Small business administration small business excellence award. The sba, new york business development corporation and area lenders, along with economic development organizations host this premier event to recognize the importance of small business to our economy and to celebrate upstate new york's small businesses as part of national small business week. Three hundred people attended and 30 small businesses, including parry's, were recognized.

micro-assistance program: the pcd received $32,000 in micro-assistance grant funding from the madison county capital resource corporation, a nonprofit development corporation operated by the madison county industrial development agency which was awarded to hamilton businesses. The grants were awarded through a competitive process and were intended to encourage small businesses to undertake new and innovative projects. Grants ranged from $1,000 to $4,500.

hamilton highlights this publication features events listings and local business advertisements and spotlights. It is published monthly and this year, we also added a digital edition. We distribute nearly 1,000 copies around town, on campus, to the local inns/hotels and to the madison county tourism visitor's centers and kiosks. We discontinued the printing of this publication in october and replaced it with an online events listing on our new website: www. Thisishamiltonny. Com. A pdf of local events is also created and emailed to approximately 950 recipients, along with a link to the online events listings.

the great chocolate festival was held on the grounds of the village offices last year and attended by nearly 2,000 people. Tents were provided for 20 vendors and exhibitors, as well as for the children's events. The chocolate ticket was utilized to encourage festival attendees to visit and shop with our downtown merchants. Two live local music acts performed, and giant hand-made puppets interacted with attendees. New in 2014, we put together the first annual "decadent dinner: an exquisite wine, beer and chocolate pairing experience. " we partnered with the poolville country store restaurant, owera vineyards and good nature brewing to provide a pairing event like no other, complete with a historic presentation about train wrecks in madison county by madison county historian, matthew urtz. The event was designed to kick off the festival and took place the thursday evening before. We had approximately 40 attendees and it is our goal to increase participation this year. We've already had several requests from people to attended last year and want to attend this year as well.

bike project pcd assisted with fund raising for the installation of additional bike racks to promote biking and business in downtown hamilton. The project was also supported by hamilton business alliance, hamilton rotary & hamilton club. The small business resource center (sbrc) continues to provide current businesses and those planning on starting a business with access to the tools they need to succeed. We hold workshops on relevant topics and continue to facilitate one-on-one counseling. All of the sbrc resources and services are provided free. " hamilton visitors and residents guide: this publication is revised and updated quarterly. This year, 850 copies were included in colgate commencement packets and we continue to distribute them to the local inns/hotels. We fulfill several requests each year to include them in wedding and conference packets. We now print and distribute 2,500 copies quarterly. We also sell advertising into this publication and were able to cover the entire printing and design cost going into 2015.