EDH 2025 Plan_Original_Dec 05 Final

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Funding The Friends of Downtown Hilo Steering Committee decided to stay as close to the ideal of a grassroots organization as possible, and one thing that everyone agreed upon was to avoid becoming an entity that concentrated more on grant searching and reporting than on fulfilling its mission. It became clear fairly early on, however, that fulfilling its mission would require funding. The steering committee organized in April 2004, and conducted two community workshops and dozens of steering committee meetings with no money. Working with the Big Island Resource Conservation and Development Council as a 501(c) 3 fiscal sponsor, FDHSC was awarded a $16,000 Mo' Bettah Together Grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation on October 13, 2004. On October 21, 2004, FDHSC was awarded $24,196.73 in Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Funds from the County of Hawaii Planning Department. And then on February 10, 2005, $10,000 in Hawai'i County Council Discretionary Funds was allocated to FDHSC. Visioning with Steven Ames The summer of 2004 was a period of reflection and self-assessment for the steering committee. Now that it had a name and an identifiable mission for itself, the new Friends of Downtown Hilo Steering Committee knew that its community project also required focus. What was the downtown community's vision? More time was needed to develop that picture before any plan could be written. The community was waiting for a follow-up meeting, and the -- ---- °_ steering committee felt the burden of responsibility. The process s was taking longer than planned, but something this important could not be rushed. While the FDHSC was rethinking its { strategy and trying to develop content for the next workshop . the scope of the yet unnamed process grew to overwhelming proportions. Through Internet searching and subsequent .;;;:•.,• telephone calls, the FDHSC connected with Steven Ames in Portland, Oregon. The committee knew that Steven's expertise Steven Ames was just what it needed. A grant application had been submitted, and the committee took a leap of faith and invited Steven to facilitate the process. After several conference calls and hours and hours of planning, Steven Ames was on his way to Hilo to give the FDHSC some much needed expert help. Steven hit the ground running when he arrived in Hilo on September 29, 2004. Workshop #3 Steven advised the committee that it needed to set a project timeframe and also that it needed a public marketing edge, something that the public could immediately identify. The 16