NEWS

Downtown Hattiesburg is soliciting responses to this request for qualifications for grant compliance services regarding Mississippi Main Street Revitalization Grant Program funds from the Department of Finance and Administration from an allocation received by the State of Mississippi under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

All responses to this request should be submitted by email to:

Andrea Saffle, Downtown Hattiesburg Association Executive Director at andrea@downtownhattiesburg.org with the subject: “RFQ: Downtown Roadmap Vision Plan” by Thursday, Nov. 30, at 5:00 p.m. CST.

This project will span from December 2023 to June 2024. The allocated budget for this project is up to $65,000 and aims to develop a comprehensive strategy focusing on retail gap analysis, retail recruitment, streetscape design, and economic vitality strategies for the commercial business district in downtown Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Note: Applicants should provide a detailed understanding and strategic analysis of the demographics of Hattiesburg, Miss., including national and/or regional trends on successful strategies for similar sized locales where applicable.

Scope of Services

The selected agency will collaborate with Downtown Hattiesburg to provide:

Retail Gap Analysis
Retail Recruitment Strategy
Streetscape and Design Facades Strategy and Concepts
Communication, Branding, and Promotions Strategy that focuses on brand enhancement to elevate the downtown district as an attractive locale for commercial and residential investment
Any supplementary services based on best practices in downtown development and mixed-use projects

Download File

Downtown Hattiesburg Association is soliciting responses to this request for qualifications for grant compliance services regarding Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program from the Department of Finance and Administration from an allocation received by the State of Mississippi under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Downtown Hattiesburg Association (DHA) has elected to use ARPA Grant funds to create park space in downtown. The park should contain vibrant and colorful spaces for gathering and play for young and old alike. This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeks to solicit offers from responsible Contractors to establish a contract based upon cost of the work plus the design-builder’s fee with a guaranteed maximum price to construct this park space. DHA’s all-inclusive budget including any and all planning and construction costs, furnishing, and equipping is $68,000.

The awarded contract will be for planning and construction of the work in one or more phases. The effective date of this contract is anticipated to be no later than December 2, 2024 with a desired completion of construction on or before December 1, 2026.

A draft copy of the Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Design-Builder & Supplementary Terms (Addendum A) has been included for your review.

All responses to this request should be submitted by email to:

Andrea Saffle, Downtown Hattiesburg Association Executive Director at andrea@downtownhattiesburg.com with the subject: “RFQ: Design-Build Park Space” by Monday, November 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. CST.

Scope of Services

The selected contractor responsibilities will include design, planning, construction and procurement of amenities for and outdoor green space at 300 Hardy Street. The space should include:

Turf and hardscape
String Lighting and sun sails
Seating, bike racks, and other amenities for gathering as determined in design.

The Owner’s preliminary all-inclusive budget including any/all planning and construction costs, furnishing, equipping, and contingency is $68,000.00.

Download RFQ File

Downtown Hattiesburg is soliciting responses to this request for qualifications for grant compliance services regarding Mississippi Main Street Revitalization Grant Program funds from the Department of Finance and Administration from an allocation received by the State of Mississippi under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

All responses to this request should be submitted by email to:

Andrea Saffle, Downtown Hattiesburg Association Executive Director at andrea@downtownhattiesburg.org with the subject: “RFQ: Downtown Website Design/ Support and training” by Friday, Sept. 27, at 5:00 p.m. CST.

This project will span from October 2024 to January 20024. The allocated budget for this project is up to $10,000 and the selected firm will be responsible for assisting in the development and support of Downtown Hattiesburg’s website to maximize communications efforts aimed at key markets. Pulling on the NEW look and feel of the brand, develop a website highlighting Downtown’s vibrancy and specific attributes that make it compelling to visit. The agency must be able to integrate/connect with Downtown’s social media channels, VibeMap App, and other owned websites.

Note: Applicants should provide a detailed understanding and strategic analysis of the demographics of Hattiesburg, Miss., including national and/or regional trends on successful strategies for similar sized locales where applicable.

Scope of Services

The selected agency responsibilities will include the following components:

COMPONENT A: REDESIGN / RESPONSIVE WEBSITE:

PRIMARY GOAL: Enhance the organization’s credibility as a source for visitors through a fully responsive, robust, easy-to-navigate website.
Website Functionality Requirements:

Must be mobile responsive and designed to work across browsers and devices, including in areas with low bandwidth
Content / blog section for regularly updated new content
Must include a banner at the top for alerts/updates
Engagement tactics and lead generation features
Integration of video & motion elements
Integrate with CMS (VibeMap), Threshold 360, Newsletter platform, and social media accounts
Implementation of Facebook Pixel across the site
Cleaning and migration of archived content from the existing website to the new CMS
Auto-generated site map
Key metadata and other standard content promotion and indexing technologies
Search engine optimization
Support for Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Search Console
Quality assurance for the new site, including a beta testing period and a system for internal / beta users to report glitches and user experience issues
Accessibility for blind or limited-vision users, with recommendations from the vendor to ensure maximum accessibility
ADA Compliant (AA Minimum)
GDPR Compliant
Specific Desires:

Convert current site, which contains a substantial amount of content, into a site that offers users an easily navigable experience that inspires them to visit Downtown
A new design that is bold, engaging, inspiring, clean, and consistent with new branding.
Links on every page to share content via email and social media.
Create and implement branded, short URLs for links
Ability to feature content on all main landing pages
Implement uniform image sizes for individual listings and featured content
Ability to create customized buttons throughout the site
Functional “search” feature
Recommendations for linking Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google Business reviews for retail, restaurants, hotels and other attractions
Provide a recommendation for promoting local events, considering options like “VibeMap” for event information acquisition
Capability for new businesses to submit updated or new information for their listings, with a preference for a system beyond current Google Form
Develop a tagging system that allows users to follow breadcrumbs to related or suggested content, including blogs, attractions, and events
A fully designed and functional digital map featuring retail, restaurants, venues, and visitor trails with links to partner websites. Ideally, this map should connect to our CRM
Support for multimedia content (video, photo slideshows, podcasts) across various page types
The ability to make content and design changes in-house without additional fees, including updates to banners, campaign creative, additional pages, menu links, and functionality
Freedom to add additional site functionality (within reason) in-house
Preference for an open-source CMS that is easy to manage by a small in-house team
A detailed site migration plan

COMPONENT B: ANNUAL SUPPORT / MAINTENANCE:

PRIMARY GOAL: Establish the most efficient processes for all aspects of the DHA website and social media including support, maintenance, and reporting.
Annual Support & Maintenance will include:
Site testing
Regular maintenance
Technical support, including platform enhancements, compliance updates, and security improvements.
Staff training, including recommendations for ongoing website maintenance (such as metadata, image sizes, etc.) and troubleshooting post-launch.
Ongoing customer service post-launch
Recommendations for updates
Support for Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, as needed based on notifications and alerts.

Just two years ago, Marlo Dorsey, who serves as executive director of Visit Hattiesburg, was elected as treasurer of the Mississippi Main Street Association, where she was able to use her experience leading tourism and destination marketing efforts.

Dorsey followed that up the next year with a one-year stint as vice president, and has now been elected as president of the association, an organization dedicated to the preservation and economic revitalization of Mississippi’s historic downtowns and districts. Dorsey’s election was part of a new executive committee, two at-large board members and a director’s representative for the MMSA.

“I’m thrilled to officially be a part (of this organization) as president,” Dorsey said. “They’re champions throughout our entire state at the community level that work so hard to revitalize communities and really enhance curb appeal.

“I’m really interested in getting to learn more about them and their success stories, but also listening to what things we can do in the Main Street organization to really help spur additional investment or create new opportunities.”

Dorsey earned a broadcast journalism degree from Louisiana State University before receiving an MBA in executive management. She is a graduate of Leadership Mississippi and has served on its advisory board.

Dorsey was recognized as a 2017 50 Leading Woman by the Mississippi Business Journal and served as the chief marketing officer for the Mississippi Development Authority. At MDA, she led the state’s global marketing and communications efforts for both economic development and tourism.

She also serves on the Historic Hattiesburg Downtown Association executive committee, serving on both the design and economic vitality committees. She is past president of the Mississippi Tourism Association, advocacy chair for the Mississippi Destination Marketing Organization, and serves on the dedicated funding advisory board for Visit Mississippi. In addition to board president, Dorsey serves as the advocacy chair for MMSA.

Previously, Dorsey served as the director of marketing and communications for both Visit Hattiesburg and the Hattiesburg Convention Commission before being named to her current position in 2017. At Visit Hattiesburg, she and her team focus on growing business and leisure travel in Hattiesburg through multi-state marketing campaigns, regional sales strategies and cooperative alliances with Hattiesburg’s hotel and tourism partners.

“When we spent so much time during the (COVID-10) pandemic trying to just react to the many curveballs we were thrown, we wanted to make sure our local businesses had a voice,” Dorsey said. “And we wanted to share the importance of supporting local at that time, because we were facing so many barriers.

“But as we’ve come out of the pandemic, and we’ve continued to grow and thrive, we don’t need to take our foot off the gas pedal of supporting local. When people look for new places to invest, when they look for new places to live, they always want to feel a sense of connection and community, and a downtown is the epicenter of connectivity and creativity in all communities.”

As an example of that, Dorsey pointed to the eight new businesses that have opened in downtown Hattiesburg since the beginning of this year.

“That is a testament to the support, the connectivity, the story-telling, that organizations like downtowns or tourism offices can really share with other people looking for those authentic and unique experiences,” she said. “So we’re onto something, and it’s really exciting to able to see what other parts of Mississippi are doing.

“As president, I’m really excited to just have that opportunity to listen, to meet a lot more people at the community level, to see what things they need to continue progressing their part of the state forward.”

The Mississippi Main Street Association leads a network consisting of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities across the United States. Since 1993, the association has provided more than $6 billion in public and private reinvestment back into Main Street communities.

In addition to Dorsey, other newly-elected MMSA executive officers are vice president Chris Hinton, treasurer Kelle Barfield and past president Michelle Jones.

Downtown Hattiesburg has seen a large boom in new businesses, attracting more revenue to the Hub City.

The downtown area has welcomed eight new businesses, including restaurants, snow cone shops and retail stores since January 2023.

The Downtown Hattiesburg Association said they expect at least half a dozen more new businesses by the end of the year.
Many of the businesses were made possible with help from the Façade Grand Program. with $200,000 in funding, the program helps restore old abandoned and often damaged buildings.

“Any time a building that has sat vacant, like this building, while getting it back into service, this was not generating any kind of sales tax revenue and very little property tax revenue. So, having them redeveloped and then occupied with thriving new businesses, you’re generating a sales tax base, which obviously feeds into filling potholes and doing projects for the city, but then also property tax,” explained Andrea Saffle, executive director of the Downtown Hattiesburg Association.

“The little ice cream shop here didn’t have a roof or anything, so we had to store this one. About 30 to 40 percent of the roof was gone on these two boutique stores here. And so, we had to bring those back. I take a lot of pride and joy bringing these old buildings that were on the verge of collapsing and bringing them back to life,” said Harry Goff, an independent property developer.

Leaders with the Downtown Hattiesburg Association said they hope to add more business space and a bodega in the near future.