with Heidi Hood, Managing Director of the Downtown Franklin Association

Spring is upon us, and The Downtown Franklin Association (a division of the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County) is excited to continue its mission work this year. As a nationally accredited Main Street program, the Downtown Franklin Association’s mission is to lead the continued revitalization and purposeful evolution of downtown Franklin, in the context of historic preservation, by maintaining a diverse economic base, promoting a unique local shopping experience, fostering accessible and attractive public spaces and forging partnerships across all sectors.

WORK DOWNTOWN

During March, the DFA hosted a “Work Downtown” promotional campaign to its collective following of nearly 100k, highlighting downtown Franklin as an ideal place to work and build a career while also promoting business members now hiring.   

SMART START™

The DFA continues to live into its new role as a Smart Start™ Tennessee community, contributing to the goal of making Tennessee one of the easiest places to start and run a business. The organization is now working to equip the new officially recognized Community Partners downtown with the tools and resources they need to empower startups and existing small businesses to grow and thrive downtown.

FRANKLIN LOCALS

With a tremendous kick-off for Franklin Locals on March 1st, the association followed suit with immediate makeup training for its volunteers, with new applicants for Franklin Locals building momentum for the program. Providing hospitality and concierge on the streets for visitors downtown, Franklin Locals equips trained on-the-street representatives to answer questions, give recommendations, and share the story of Franklin with new friends. 

FRANK TALKS

The nonprofit Franklin Tomorrow featured the DFA Managing Director on its panel for March Frank Talks to showcase the work of the association downtown and help the community get more acquainted with how to get involved in support of the mission work.

BUILDING OWNERS

The association is living into its promise to cultivate partnerships across all sectors by hosting the first round-table discussion for building owners downtown since before the pandemic, with another building owners meeting scheduled for Q2.  

In the ever-changing landscape of Franklin, the DFA is working hard to ensure downtown remains one of America’s favorite historic districts.