Downtown Carlisle Association Makes Downtown A Better Place

How does a downtown get described as: cute, authentic, historical, vibrant, fun, cool?

Main Street organizations across the country make it happen! The Borough of Carlisle, Dickinson College and other area leaders use the Downtown Carlisle Association (DCA), one Pennsylvania’s first Main Street organizations, to set vitalization goals and then, work with the community to reach those goals.

A National Main Street Structure implemented in Carlisle.
The DCA is a multi-faceted organization that manages a four-point downtown revitalization plan: Promotion: Developing promotional & tourism events with structured branding; Design: Ensuring the downtown is groomed, clean, and attractive to customers; Economic Development: Attracting and retaining businesses through grants, loans, ease of government regulations and market research; and Organization: Maintaining and cultivating government, corporate and personal relationship to help the downtown reach community goals.

From promotional and tourism events, downtown flowers, clean-ups, street-light banners, to store facades and logos, the DCA created a downtown where businesses and people want to invest time and money.

Partnerships with community, government and corporations, lead us in creating and maintaining a downtown environment that breeds individual optimism that leads to a welcoming community were people can live and thrive.

Glenn White, Executive Director of the DCA stated “We are successful because this community wants to be successful. Carlisle is very proud, welcoming and makes marketing downtown very easy.”

So be sure to watch our LoveCarlisle.com facebook page and website to find out about downtown activities and businesses. But mostly to learn how you can make a difference. Get involved, donate, volunteer, engage in your downtown to make it better!

DCA AT A GLANCE

• Founded in 1981
• Produce 15 tourism/promotion events that are attended by over 300,000 annually.
• Have invested over $50,000 in grants and time for downtown façade improvements & design.
• Planted over 480 flowerpots for downtown beautification.
• Have watered downtown flower baskets over 96,000 times.
• Promoted the downtown LoveCarlisle brand to over 1.5 million people annually.
• Have raised $450,000 in the past 10 years from private sponsorships & donations for downtown development.
• Have logged over 500,000 volunteer hours from community members making a difference!

To find out more about the National Main Street organization or Downtown Carlisle Association, go to:
www.mainstreet.org; www.lovecarlisle.com, www.padowntown.org .