Nob Hill Main Street is a finalist for Pepsi’s December Refresh Grant, which is awarded based on number of votes from the public. You can help a fledgling fellow Main Street organization win $250,000 and physically “refresh” its alleyways by voting early and often for Nob Hill’s proposed project.
The proposed Refresh Grant project would enable Nob Hill Main Street to install a total of 75 solar-powered street lights (two per alleyway) and to add informational signs and three artistic murals throughout the district. This project is intended to improve lighting and pedestrian safety throughout the Nob Hill district and to improve the visual quality and artistic interest in otherwise typically dull alley pathways.
If the project receives enough votes during the month of December, Nob Hill Main Street will receive $250,000 toward realizing its goals of a more pedestrian-friendly and walkable district and safer, more interesting alleyways. Ninety percent of the grant would be devoted to project costs, with only 10 percent allocated to operational costs.
Vote for Nob Hill’s solar/arts alleyways project through either of the following:
Text your vote daily: 104796 to Pepsi (73774)
Vote online daily at www.refresheverything.com/walknobhill. You will need to register once with an email address, then go to this site each day to cast your vote by logging in and then voting for “WalkNobHill.” It’s easy and painless!
You can vote every day in the month of December, and your vote for a fellow Main Street organization will be much appreciated!
About Nob Hill Main Street
Nob Hill Main Street is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to the revitalization of the historic Nob Hill neighborhood business district, which is bisected by historic Route 66. One of the organization’s goals is the development of a self-sustaining, walkable, urban community that reduces carbon emissions on the planet.
The Nob Hill district is comprised of predominantly independent businesses that include specialty retail, restaurants, healing arts, professionals, and nonprofit organizations. During the late 1960s and early 1970s the neighborhood experienced suburban flight typical of the era and became an automobile "drive through" district as commuters sped through Nob Hill from the suburbs to and from downtown and the nearby University of New Mexico.
Nob Hill Main Street was founded in July, 2009 with a cadre of dedicated and diverse business owners, neighborhood residents, professionals, and others to retain and enhance the neighborhood’s unique character and create a walkable destination district that would serve neighborhood residents and visitors to the district. A recent survey of more than 100 local business owners found that their first choice for improvement was improving pedestrian walkability in the Nob Hill district.
The current Nob Hill Main Street organization stands on the shoulders of previous revitalization efforts: Nob Hill was one of the original participants in the National Trust Main Street Center’s Urban Demonstration Project of the 1980s. Eventually that organization folded, but new leadership rekindled the idea of Main Street in the district, and has diligently worked to rebuild a sustainable organization to work with neighborhood partners to revitalize the commercial corridor. Among its many notable achievements in its first 18 months, Nob Hill Main Street received New Mexico MainStreet’s 25th Anniversary Award for Excellence in Organization, an award designed to recognize one local program for its comprehensive, effective work in the Organization point.
Nob Hill Main Street’s Refresh Grant application is a collaboration of its Design and Economic Positioning committees. The Design Committee has conceptualized the alleyway improvements, arts and tile murals, and informational kiosks. Economic Positioning Committee Chair Susan Michie researched and made application for the Refresh Grant, which was selected as a finalist in late November.
While Nob Hill Main Street is pursuing a Business Improvement District as an eventual source of more stable funding, it currently relies on voluntary financial support and is primarily an all-volunteer organization.
Pepsi’s Refresh Project accepts nominations from any business, individual, or nonprofit organization. Pepsi is giving away $1.3 million every month. To learn more about the Refresh Project, go to www.refresheverything.com/how-it-works.