MMF-Message from Cohen

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   From the Journal...

Economic Success with Public-Private Partnership and Civic Pride

By Ken Cohen 

Contributing Writer 

Economic competitiveness. Public-private collaboration. Civic pride. These core values guide the efforts of Middletown Moving Forward (MMF), the city’s community improvement corporation to advance, promote, and encourage industrial and commercial economic development activities. Formed in 2005, Middletown Moving Forward has sharpened our focus in the last year and is moving strategically to live out our organizational values with specific strategies.

Economic Competitiveness: Middletown Moving Forward wants to improve the economic welfare of Middletown and its residents. For this to occur, it will take a variety of local and regional organizations working together to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle. Through a strategic review of existing resources, needs, and opportunities, MMF has committed to the main strategies of supporting Middletown’s redevelopment pipeline and lending expertise to business attraction, retention, and expansion efforts. Middletown Moving Forward is establishing a reinvestment fund to provide gap financing starting in 2015 to commercial and mixed-use developments in low-to-moderate income areas, particularly downtown. Secondly, MMF will gather expertise and resources to assist the city’s economic development department and regional partners to attract new businesses and retain and expand existing businesses, particularly companies that create good jobs for our citizens.

Public-Private Collaboration: No single sector can accomplish Middletown’s economic goals alone. City and county governments, private developers, business leaders, and non-profit economic development organizations like MMF have to work with a common purpose to create economic success for the community. Some people have confused our organization with other groups with similar names or groups with a political agenda. Middletown Moving Forward’s agenda is the overall economic success of Middletown through non-partisan, public-private collaboration. Middletown Moving Forward is a non-profit, does not conduct political activities, holds open meetings, and is required to have representation on its Board of Middletown public officials and city administrators. We are all in this together.

Civic Pride: Pride in Middletown is why our volunteer board is committed to MMF. We know that enhancing our city’s image and highlighting our assets will generate more of the economic activity that we all want to see. Inspired by the lessons we saw in the recent Greenville, S.C. trip we organized with sponsorship from the Middletown Community Foundation and Atrium Medical Center, MMF is pursuing two ideas to build civic pride and lead to economic growth by attracting residents and visitors to do more in our city’s business districts. In partnership with the Middletown Community Foundation and Community Building Institute, we are holding a “What If Middletown…?” Idea Scholarship Challenge (www.whatifmiddletown.com) for current college students to share ideas about what we should do for a more vibrant Middletown. Secondly, we would like to rally individuals and organizations behind a basic enhancement effort on the Verity Parkway site of the former Swallen’s building so that we can continue to have attractive spaces for exciting activities downtown.

MMF recognizes that this is simply a start, but we are up to the challenge for the sake of Middletown’s brighter future built on our bright past.

Ken Cohen is president of Middletown Moving Forward. For more information about Middletown Moving Forward, visit www.middletownmovingforward.com. Cohen is also president of Cohen USA, headquartered in Middletown.

DOES ANYONE HERE ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT THE MMF "DOESN'T CONDUCT POLITICAL ACTIVITIES" AS COHEN STATES? ABSOLUTELY NO SPONSORSHIP OF ANY CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL? NO "SPONSORED PLACEMENT" OF THEIR PEOPLE IN KEY ROLES IN THE CITY? NONE?

AND WHY THE MENTION OF ONLY THE DOWNTOWN.....

Cohen:

"Middletown Moving Forward is establishing a reinvestment fund to provide gap financing starting in 2015 to commercial and mixed-use developments in low-to-moderate income areas, particularly downtown."

"PARTICULARLY DOWNTOWN". I THOUGHT THE MESSAGE UP UNTIL THIS POINT WAS THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF MIDDLETOWN (AS A WHOLE)