The efforts by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce (VCOC) to obtain a grant to help revitalize the community have been successful. It recently was announced Vienna has been selected in a competitive application process to participate in a cash-sharing Community Empowerment grant that provides training, mentoring, and technical services to revitalization programs in Missouri’s historic commercial districts. The grant is provided by Missouri Main Street Connection, Inc. (MMSC).

MMSC staff will visit with Vienna’s community leaders to evaluate existing and future needs of the downtown area. Then a series of customized training and mentoring sessions will be scheduled to help equip chamber members and community volunteers to concentrate on their local revitalization goals. 

MMSC State Director Gayla Roten noted, “This service grant offers an amazing opportunity to Vienna to bring the community together to preserve and revitalize the downtown district. We are excited to assist with this work.”

The goal of the grant is the development of a sustainable, volunteer-based organization that will carry out an economic development program based on the preservation of historic assets in the downtown, using the Main Street Four-Point Approach to Revitalization.

With support from MMSC, the sponsoring organization, the Vienna Chamber of Commerce anticipates comprehensive and sustainable revitalization in downtown Vienna and throughout the community. The chamber also will build on the success it and other community stakeholders have already accomplished.

During the next two years, MMSC will provide Vienna with training and mentoring to formally establish a revitalization organization that will engage the entire community as a participant and beneficiary. The group also will attend regional revitalization workshops and conferences conducted by MMSC.

The Community Empowerment Grant is a 60/40 match, requiring the community to contribute 40 percent of the cash value of the services. The total value of the grant in training and mentoring services is $30,800. Vienna is also now designated as an affiliate in the Missouri Main Street Tier Structure, which ranks progress on standards established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Center.