Thursday, July 13, 2023–11:48 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Rome Downtown Development Authority has announced ten recipients of marketing grants.
A check presentation ceremony will be held during the DDA’s next meeting.
“The marketing grant program is relatively new,” said DDA director Aundi Lesley. “It was born out of the pandemic and the response that we heard from the merchants about what their greatest need was. At the time it was marketing, and it really still continues to be marketing.”
Each grant is for $1,000, but the business must meet with the Small Business Development Center to come up with a marketing strategy and a plan. According to Lesley, that gives the business the most constructive way to spend the funds to get the most bang for their buck.
“Some people go into it thinking, for instance, that they are going to do billboards,” Lesley explained. “Then they sit down with the consultants and realize that’s probably not the most effective way for their particular business. So, it’s been great. We have grown the program every single year and we plan to hopefully grow it again in the future. We’ve been really happy with it.”
21 businesses applied for grants.
The ten recipients were:
- Sassy Salvage
- Capitoline Records
- Paula’s Boutique
- Blue Willow Boutique
- Ford, Gittings, and Kane
- Snazzy Rags
- Living & Giving
- Mahli’s Uni-Pop
- Swift & Finch
- Cabbell’s Designs
Also Thursday, Assistant Rome City Attorney Frank Beacham swore in Kevin Dillmon as the newest member of the DDA board (pictured above). Dillon is the co-owner and operator of Honeymoon Bakery and is the owner of Riverside Gourmet.
Much of Thursday’s downtown development authority meeting was devoted to board training.
The presentation by John Hawkins, an attorney with Brinson, Askew, and Berry, who represents the City of Rome, focused on the Open Meetings Act, the Open Records Act, and conflict of interest principles.
“DDa board members are required to complete a certain amount of training every year, and we thought this would be good topics to have a refresher course on,” Lesley said. “Of course, they will do more specific training on downtown development authorities and main street programs, things of that nature.”