Downtown Akron Partnership Inc.

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2011 to Jun 30, 2012

Signed

Mar 22, 2013

Return Version

2011v1.5

Gross Receipts

$1,162,393

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Clean, Safe & Vibrant We provide safety and cleaning ambassadors to service Downtown. The safety ambassadors patrol, provide public safety, battery jumps, car lock outs, safety escorts and give helpful information to workers and visitors. They also report potential and actual emergencies to police, fire and EMS. We have quarterly BlockWatch meetings for the Downtown business owners to inform them and their employees about safety issues. We distribute thousands of safety brochures every year. We provide the funding to put extra officers on the Downtown streets on the weekends. The cleaning ambassadors provide supplemental cleaning services Downtown. They remove litter and graffiti, pressure wash sidewalks and work on other special projects. They also distribute information to Downtown businesses, workers and visitors. The first Friday in May is our annual Green & Clean Day. About 350 volunteers participate by cleaning, painting, picking up litter and pulling weeds in different sections of Downtown. This year we cleaned up Commerce Park and it has become an additional green space for Downtown employees to enjoy. We also have 49 Downtown planters. The Adopt-A-Planter program had 20 participating businesses that planted flowers in our planters. We reimbursed them for the plants and put a sign in the planter that advertised their name. We also have 56 hanging baskets that we put on Main Street. We added flower boxes and colorful umbrellas to brighten up Cascade Plaza. We helped to sponsor various flower beds Downtown . We had a Community Garden planted and employees from different businesses Downtown participated in caring for it. At the end of the season we gave away the extra produce at the Farmer's Market. To make a uniform streetscape, we added new waste can and newspaper corrals. We also added additional cigarette receptacles on the street. The total expenses for this program were $486,747.

Activity 3

Marketing & Promotions We promote and market Downtown Akron. We have our own events and partner with different entities to bring visitors Downtown. We partner with the University, Hospitals, The Marathon and the City for the Summer and Winter Farmer's Market, winter vendor cottages, Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony, Downtown concerts at Lock 3 and Lock 4 and promote the lunch trolley. We decorate Downtown windows during the holidays with vintage decorations. We added quarterly Downtown Artworks celebrations to the Artwalk, supplementing activity with visual and performing artists hired by DAP. We use our website, mobile platform, the social media, various newsletters, sandwich boards and post flyers in kiosks to keep workers and visitors informed about what is happening Downtown. We printed and distributed 5,000 rack cards to let people know about upcoming events. We started a Passport Program that offered 16 different things to do, including First Night, at a cost of $15. The value of the Passport was $190. Schools were offered the opportunity of selling them as fundraisers. We promote and encourage restaurants to participate in Restaurant Week. The total expenses for this program were $113,180.

Filer

EIN

34-1823835