You are invited to get involved in a community effort to revitalize Waltham's downtown. This public-private partnership is being initiated by the Waltham/West Suburban Chamber of Commerce and the City of Waltham, with the objective of creating an organization that will be solely focused on the downtown.

The goals of this partnership include: to promote the downtown as a destination; to strengthen existing businesses and to recruit new ones that complement the current mix; to help beautify the downtown through storefront and sign improvements, streetscaping and cleanliness; to bring together stakeholders for mutually beneficial activities, including networking, cross-promotions and technical assistance workshops/presentations.

We welcome the involvement of all local stakeholders--including businesses, property owners, residents, elected officials, institutions and anyone who cares about our downtown.

We invite you to get involved in one of four volunteer committees forming to help lead the partnership's activities:

Design Committee. This committee will work on issues such as signage, storefront improvements, streetscaping, parking, trash, graffiti-removal, window displays, merchandising. It may help develop and implement sign/facade matching grant programs, design guidelines and revised sign and zoning codes. Members will work to provide design assistance to business and property owners.

Organization Committee. This committee will help to structure the organization, incorporating, developing by-laws, defining the mission, recruiting volunteers and members, communicating with constituents and assisting with fundraising.

Promotion Committee. This committee will promote the downtown through special events, printed materials, ads, the internet, cross-marketing initiatives, media outreach, and more.

Economic Development Committee. This committee deals with economic factors in the downtown--business mix, vacancies, business recruitment, sales leakage, loan programs, technical assistance needs of the stakeholders and more.

Please note your interest in volunteering by contacting Jennifer Rose at (617) 548-6330, or downtownwaltham@earthlink.net.

Thank you! !Gracias! Merci! Namaste! We look forward to working with you.