The Business Development Committee is a work sub-committee formed out of the village People Forum held in September 2001. This committee currently meets every two weeks on Thursdays at Fortress Bank.

Our purpose is to use our concern and hope for Downtown West Salem as motivation to educate ourselves and the community so that we can be well-informed advocates for positive change regarding downtown business development.

This committee is currently working on designing a plan to retain our current businesses, to recruit new retail businesses and to create an economically healthy mix. We have three main goals, which include: creating an economic development strategy for Downtown West Salem, educating and informing the community about downtown economic development and creating a clearinghouse for the purchase and sales of downtown businesses and properties. In order to accomplish these goals we plan on doing a great deal of research including visiting some successful downtown retail programs around the state and in the Coulee Region. We will also be developing a survey for our local community to help us analyze Downtown West Salem's strengths, weaknesses and possible opportunities.

By implementing these plans we hope to promote new investment, new and different kinds of businesses, as well as the expansion of existing businesses. With all these plans in place this new downtown vitality will result in greater community pride, customer satisfaction and business profits.

These goals will not be achieved overnight - we have a vision and that vision will take some time to accomplish. Downtown revitalization is important to this community, not only for today's citizens but also for our future citizens. It takes many volunteers to make this a reality - please consider getting involved!

Anyone interested in joining the Business Development Committee is welcome to come to any of our meetings or talk to one of our current members. For more information, please contact Denise Jones at 786-3705.