Annie Armatage '12

CDG Internship, Week 4

November 22, 2009 at 10:43 pm

The final three days of my internship I finished up the projects I had been working on, namely the community profile and the database. It was great to get some experience working with Microsoft Access, as I know that is a commonly used program in the business world. The community profile was extremely gratifying. I could tell that it would be really useful to the CDG. I learned so much working on this project, including what community information is important to individuals considering starting a business there, information important to current businesses, and where businesses can find resources (such as grants, loan, and training).

This internship has been a great opportunity. I’ve certainly learned a great deal, and enjoyed meeting and working with new people. I will especially miss working with Kristy SeBlonka every day. I do, however, intend to continue volunteering with the CDG until I graduate. Comments

CDG Internship, Weeks 2&3

November 15, 2009 at 3:41 pm

The second week of my internship was short due to H1N1. As I was unable to accomplish a great amount that week, I am going to combine the descriptions of my second and third weeks.

By the end of the second week and during the third week, I was able to get involved in some interesting projects. The 3/50 project was founded by Cinda Baxter, a retail consultant. The purpose of the project is to strengthen small businesses by encouraging people to buy locally. The idea is for individuals to identify three small businesses in their community that they would miss if they disappeared, and to commit to spend $50 at these businesses each month. Kristy, my supervisor and director of CDG, is kicking this project off in Mt. Vernon. I delivered flyers to local businesses and explained the project to them. This project has had a great impact on me, and as a result, a greater amount of my purchases are now local.

At some point, CDG would like to complete a customer survey of Cornell Students. This survey would differ greatly from the customer survey for community members that the CDG is currently working on. I have spent some time identifying what the goals of such a survey should be, which is a lot more difficult than you might expect. This survey would be a much longer project than I have time for in this internship, but my ideas, as a college student, are valuable to the process.

When an individual considers starting a business in your town, it is helpful to provide them with a community profile. This profile might include information about the consumer market base and the area’s business mix, amongst other things. Currently, the CDG lacks such a profile. This past week I transferred population, consumer, and market data into the beginnings of a Mt. Vernon community profile. The volume and detail of information about the community is impressive. Eventually, the CDG will identify the types of businesses they believe will complement the current business mix, and modify the community profile to target these types of businesses.

An ongoing project of mine has been updating the CDG’s business database. Although this job is rather monotonous, it is important to the functions of the CDG, and has allowed me a greater understanding of the community’s business mix.

Finally, I have been working on the preparations for the community event, Magical Night. This event takes place next week to kick off the holiday shopping season. It is designed to attract customers from both inside and outside of the community. Some of the preparation has included printing, copying, and designing flyers. I also walked around the community and delivered event materials to businesses and explained the event to business owners. Perhaps the most valuable component of this internship has been getting to know the community, and gaining a greater understanding of the local business environment. Comments

Mt.Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group: Internship-Week 1

November 4, 2009 at 6:39 pm

Unfortunately,the first week of my internship was cut short when I came down with H1N1. Before I became ill, however, I was able to do a number of things.

First, I familiarized myself with the Mainstreet approach to community development-, the approach utilized by the Mt. Vernon Community Development Group (CDG).

CDG is in the process of creating a customer survey that will give local businesses valuable information about their customer base. I’ve read over the survey in its current state, as well as guidelines the CDG has considered in its creation of the survey. I later sat in on a meeting of the committee working on the formulation of the survey. I was surprised by the deliberation that goes into the creation of a survey. Every word in a question is essential and can completely alter the results of the survey. As the committee debated over the questions, the discussion always returned to the same question: what is the goal of the survey? I can see that it is imperative to have a clear objective when writing survey questions.

On Tuesday I met with local businesses to inform them of an advertising opportunity through the CDG. It was great to meet with the business owners. I gained a much better sense of the community.

On Wednesday I wrote up a few brief overviews of business articles to put in the CDG’s November Retail/Business Updates newsletter.

It has been so eye-opening to see all the planning and work that goes into a community. From the lights in the trees on main street during Christmas-time, to the grants and loans that help retain struggling businesses, communities require planning, resources, and hard work.