Resources:
Lee Van Roth's Feature Article: Ypsi selected to join downtown revitalization program with emphasis on small-manufacturers
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Ypsilanti has been selected as one of six communities participating in Recast City's Recast Leaders Program, a new Southeastern Michigan cohort focused on strengthening local economies through small-scale manufacturing and product-based businesses. The 10-month initiative is led by Recast City, in partnership with the Michigan Municipal League with support from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. This program is designed to move communities beyond planning and toward implementation, especially in downtown districts facing vacancies, disinvestment, and changing economic conditions. Joining me today is Ilana Preuss, the founder and CEO of Recast City, to talk about why Ypsi was selected and what this work could mean for local businesses and residents. Ilana, welcome! Thanks so much for being here!
Ilana Preuss: Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today!
Lee Van Roth: So, for listeners who might not be familiar, because I know I wasn't when I initially was reading about this program, what is the Recast Leaders Program and how is it designed to help communities like Ypsi do things a little bit differently to revitalize their downtown spaces?
Ilana Preuss: Our work is really different from anything a community has done before, because we focus in on small-scale manufacturing businesses. And these are businesses that produce any kind of tangible product that you can replicate or package. So, that might be your local hot sauce maker, somebody who's working in textiles and making handbags. It's also advanced manufacturing and everything in between. And what we've found over the years is that this business sector is phenomenal at filling storefronts, great at creating good paying jobs and just wants to be a part of communities all over the country, and even better, is in every community, no matter the size, big or small. And so, we work with communities to not only find these businesses who are already in the community but also understand their needs and then begin to implement programs and projects that serve their needs to help them survive and thrive and grow in that community.
Lee Van Roth: And there was an application process to decide on the different communities that would be part of this cohort. What stood out from Ypsi's application that made you and Recast City say, "Hey, this is a community that we think we could do a lot of good work in?"
Ilana Preuss: Ypsi had a great application looking at it from a perspective of partnership. They see the importance of the city and the Downtown Development Authority working together. They see that downtown can be even more than it already is. And they recognize that there are amazing businesses already in the community, but as they continue to scale and grow, they're losing them from the city, and they want to keep them and help them grow and stay in town. And so, that recognition of all of the different pieces is an important piece of it. And thinking about how to create the spaces and the support and all of those aspects together and that it has a reputation of being this cool and funky place for businesses to be. People talked about the strong food scene and how great they are at incubating businesses in the city. But recognizing that the partners need to come together, that more trust needs to be built across different groups within the community and with business owners and recognizing that action is really important for the follow-through to achieve this outcome. And that outcome being that vacant storefronts are filled with these great funky businesses. There are different sized spaces to move into as businesses grow to stay in the community, and that they feel the strong support from across the different community groups in the city.
Lee Van Roth: And you mentioned building trust within the community between businesses and between the changemakers and connectors within a community. And I'm curious about how the Recast process of actually visiting businesses and speaking directly with business owners to get a sense of what works in this space, in this downtown space, and what doesn't. Why is that the model that Recast City sort of works on, as opposed to a, "Oh! Well, we used this program in this location and this location's kind of similar, so we'll just bring it back over here"
Ilana Preuss: Right! That's a great question! I always say that there's a hundred different things a community can do about this, but which three are most important for your business owners right now is what we want to get really clear on. The truth is that there are tons of ideas in economic development and tons of different theories about how to get there. But we find that when we reach business owners who have deep roots already in that community and help them succeed, they're reinvesting those dollars in the community. They're hiring people who are already in the community. And they're not going to leave. They're there. They already have deep roots. And these product businesses even add another element to that strength because these businesses are set up to have online sales. So, they're quite literally bringing dollars into the community. And so, our method is not only finding them but understanding their needs. We use techniques from change management and research and all different things to get into the nitty-gritty with these business owners around. What works really well for them. Whatever assets are there in the community, we want to build on that. And what's missing? What do they most urgently need right now for their business to thrive? Those business owners are the best experts in their business needs. And so, by understanding those needs, we are de-risking future investments in that community because we're being responsive to the business owners' needs in the community. We're also understanding it from a property owner perspective, as well as the folks who are already providing small business support in that community. So, we're building on whatever is already working well in that community. And then, we're being really laser-focused to fill in the gaps that are the most essential in the short term for those business owners to thrive in that area that we're targeting.
Lee Van Roth: This is On the Ground Ypsi on 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, continuing my conversation with Ilana Preuss of Recast City. Ilana, the way you've described working directly with businesses and how this work that Recast City does in these communities helps to shift the perspective for some folks, particularly business and property owners, as far as what their opinions on the local economy. And seeing the other work that you've done in other locations as well, that same perspective shift happens in the community members as well. It's a total shift in how just a neighbor, a community member, sees the town that they're a part of. And I'm wondering why, or if that was even a conscious goal of yours on Recast City's side to kind of build up that pride, that local pride, as well as bolstering the businesses in the area.
Ilana Preuss: Oh, absolutely! I believe that every community is valuable. I believe that everybody who lives in that community deserves to feel that that community is valued and valuable, however they define it. And so, when we bring these businesses, these small-scale manufacturing businesses, out into the limelight, it does build that community pride. It allows a neighbor to point at it and say, "This! This is who we are! This is what we're about! This is our heritage! This is our culture!" Because we recognize that communities, cities across the country, are facing all sorts of challenges: downtown vacancies, tariffs are impacting local businesses, this desperate need to grow local tax revenue within the community. And when folks are implementing these changes and creating these wins, it creates a model for other communities to copy and to point and say, "Oh, wow! I want to do that too! Let's really understand what's going on within our own small-scale manufacturing community! Let's build up that pride as well!" And it's really an honor to be able to work with the Michigan Municipal League and the Foundation to partner with on this regional cohort specific to Southeast Michigan. We work with communities all over the country on this. And it is just a pleasure to get to get in deep with the communities in Southeast Michigan about how to build that pride and how to create that space for these businesses to grow and thrive.
Lee Van Roth: I appreciate you bringing up how Ypsi is this very unique town that, in my personal opinion, let's a lot of folks fit into a lot of very specific niches very well. And I'm wondering, based with this method and with this focus on small-scale manufacturing and small businesses, how does that targeted support have it retain that sort of distinct personality of the community?
Ilana Preuss: Yeah, the personality of place is really essential. What we found is that the places that are unique are the ones you can't replace. And so, it's holding on to what makes the community unique, showcasing that heritage and that culture and that history in the small businesses that are in the community is essential to making its local economy not only stable, but resilient. It can't be replaced by the next highway intersection with the same stores that are everywhere because the stores and the experiences are unique to what's going on in Yps. And so, that is something we really get communities to double-down on and emphasize. And in some cases, communities have to find that from scratch. And so, Ypsi has that advantage that it already has that going on. But it's something that we'll definitely work with community leaders to focus in on and keep digging into for their benefit.
Lee Van Roth: Well, Ilana, I want to thank you so much for joining us here today. This is a 10-month program that's just kicking off this month in February. So, hopefully, in a year's time, we will see an even more bustling and exciting downtown space here in Ypsi.
Ilana Preuss: Absolutely! I can't wait to be a part of it!
Lee Van Roth: For more on today's conversation and a link to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM, Ypsilanti.
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