Myrte Avenue Partnership Wins Placemaking Award

Congrats to the Myrtle Avenue Partnership on their recognition of the "Home Grown and Locally Owned" campaign.  We look forward to checking out the vendors highlighted in the upcoming Fall 2009 campaign!  (Also looking forward to the loyalty program- read below!)

FORT GREENE and CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN, July 23, 2009—The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership (the Partnership) received the ‘Placemaking Award’ honor during the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ annual Neighborhood Achievement Awards ceremony at Gracie Mansion last week.  The Partnership was chosen from over 100 city-wide nominations for this honor, which recognized its Home Grown & Locally Owned campaign for the Myrtle Avenue retail corridor in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. According to the city’s criteria for ‘Placemaking’, the award “honors a completed project by an individual or organization which increases the visibility, stature and overall identity of a neighborhood, resulting in greater visitation and economic activity.”

Initially launched in January 2007, the Home Grown & Locally Owned branding campaign was created by the Partnership to showcase the Myrtle Avenue merchants in postcards, print and electronic advertising, and streetlight banners, in an effort to promote the neighborhood commercial strip and encourage nearby residents to support the local economy.  The campaign leverages the historic “Mom and Pop” character of Myrtle Avenue and strives to distinguish its mix of over 150 individual retailers by featuring the personal stories of entrepreneurs who have invested their time, energy and money in building their small business, and therefore the neighborhood, reminding shoppers of the familiar face and the personalized service they experience at a locally-owned business.  The campaign also serves as a call to local shoppers to invest in urban neighborhoods, helping to prevent the displacement of locally-owned businesses while ensuring continued opportunities for first-time entrepreneurs.

“The Home Grown & Locally Owned campaign reinforces the reality that the success of our small businesses and the vitality of our neighborhoods are closely intertwined,” commented Michael Blaise Backer, Executive Director of the Myrtle Avenue Partnership, who accepted the award at Gracie Mansion on Monday.  The campaign has increased local awareness of new business openings on Myrtle Avenue, broadened residents’ familiarity with local business owners, and increased daytime and evening foot traffic on the Avenue. A new phase of the Home Grown & Locally Owned campaign will be rolled out in September 2009, during a month-long celebration of the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project’s 10th anniversary.  In tandem, the Partnership plans to launch Myrtle Miles, an Avenue-wide loyalty card program, where shoppers will receive points and bonuses for their local Myrtle purchases.