Progressive Urban Management Associates (P.U.M.A.) is a national leader in providing consulting services to advance downtown and community development. We provide management, marketing, financial and implementation tactics to help communities and organizations compete in a changing economy.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
P.U.M.A.'s economic development strategies merge an understanding of the marketplace with organizational development to create realistic action plans and the tools to implement them.

Downtown Action Plans:
Market-based downtown action plans evaluate trends, demographics, community priorities, stakeholder perspectives and competing destinations to create a distinctive niche and positioning strategy for downtown. To capitalize on market opportunities, we identify development districts, clustering strategies and site-specific project options. Recommendations are developed for public/private partnerships to create effective programs and mobilize capital for implementation.

Neighborhood-Based Economic Development:
For neighborhood business districts, we tailor an economic development strategy to capitalize on local market opportunities. In addition to extensive community outreach, the process may include completing an economic profile, retail leakage analysis, resident survey, site readiness evaluation and/or development feasibility analysis for the business district. Implementation tactics are designed to utilize financial and organizational tools that best fit the economic, political and budgetary characteristics of client communities.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
P.U.M.A. helps to create, grow and refocus organizations that advance downtown and commercial corridor revitalization, community development and other civic agendas.

Strategic Plans:
P.U.M.A.’s approach identifies business centers within community development organizations and seeks operational solutions to improve effectiveness, accountability and fiscal sustainability. We engage our clients in building consensus among board members, staff and constituents, resulting in a seamless transition from plan to implementation. P.U.M.A. has prepared strategic plans for downtown management organizations, community development corporations, local governments, non-profit agencies and private firms.

Community Engagement:
P.U.M.A. designs and facilitates a variety of community engagement techniques that are tailored to fit the unique dynamics of our projects and client communities. Conventional options include one-on-one conversations, roundtable discussions and a variety of interactive forums. We augment our outreach efforts with online and social networking applications. Leadership retreats and workshops gain consensus for strategic planning, budgeting, work programs and marketing objectives, providing the vision and focus necessary for success.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

Changing economies require innovative public/private financing approaches to advance projects and programs.

BID Creation, Expansion or Renewal:
Business improvement districts (BIDs) have proven to be effective at maintaining, managing and marketing downtowns and business districts. P.U.M.A. is acknowledged as an international leader in BIDs, bringing experience from throughout North America and a track record of success to BID development, start-up and operations.

P.U.M.A. works with communities to start, renew, expand and consolidate BIDs. We facilitate a participatory process with property owners, merchants, residents and other stakeholders to determine priorities and develop an overall management game plan.  The result is a BID crafted to fit local legislation, markets and politics.

Community Development Financing:
In addition to BIDs, we have worked with a variety of community development financing tools and special districts, including downtown development authorities and tax increment financing. To help attract and direct investment, we have helped form community development corporations, multi-bank loan programs and other grassroots approaches.