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What’s a Scaffy and Why is it Important?

New Castle Main Street Receives Funding for Downtown Ambassador and Signage from OCRA’s Taking Care of Main Street Grant

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs recently announced that New Castle Main Street was one of 15 Indiana Main Street programs to receive grants through the Taking Care of Main Street program. Main Street received a grant to bring back Scaffy (a downtown ambassador/cleaner for downtown) and create temporary wayfinding signage. 

Because of COVID-19, people are hesitant to shop and dine downtown. One of New Castle Main Street’s solutions is to hire a Scaffy. A Scaffy is a streetsweeper, general tidier-upper and a downtown ambassador. The Scaffy will work for 10 hours a week to clean Main, 14th and 15th Streets (from Race to Broad Street) and Broad Street from 11th to 15th Streets. 

“OCRA granted this money to encourage and support us as we look to develop long-term recovery strategies,” said Paulette Lees, New Castle Main Street Board Member. “Through our strategic planning process, we realized that we could look to the past for best practices and bring back the Scaffy. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.” 

New Castle Main Street’s recent downtown survey showed that over 75% of residents feel that a beautiful and clean downtown is important. The Main Street board came up with two ways to keep New Castle downtown beautiful and clean. The board decided to bring back Scaffy and to create temporary wayfinding signs. Each of these objectives will support Main Street businesses by keeping it safe, clean and easy to navigate as well as be a recruiting tool to attract new business.

“We are excited to have another way to lift up our small businesses,” Corey Murphy, EDC Director and New Castle Main Street Board member said. “OCRA’s generous grant can help ensure that we support all of our businesses and give residents a beautiful and clean downtown to shop, eat and walk.” 

New Castle Main Street will work with Action Staffing to hire the Scaffy, which will require 10 hours of work per week, year-round. New Castle Main Street hopes Scaffy will be working by May 1, 2021. Wayfinding signs will take a little more time, in order to create a design and be efficient with those signs.

For more information, email newcastlemainstreet@gmail.com.

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