Entrepreneurs, Building Owners and a Champion City

City hosts Building With a Purpose event.

On April 24, the City of Cheyenne hosted a unique event.  Gathering feedback from entrepreneurs and building owners was the goal. Challenges and opportunities associated with building redevelopment, business startup/expansion, and crowdfunding investment were the main topic. Most noteworthy, the City hosted the event at the Grier Building. Hence, this provided participants an opportunity to be “inside” the problem. Working through storyboards was the road to solutions.

City Planner, Robert Briggs, invited entrepreneurs to journey through storyboards.  Property owners and entrepreneurs worked through different sets. In addition, they did not make this journey alone. A guide walked participants through approximately ten storyboards. Entrepreneurs and guides asked questions.

Each storyboard journey illustrated from beginning to end redevelopment of a downtown space.This was from a perspective of either a building owner or entrepreneur. The test captured feedback through unstructured think-aloud opportunities and activities at specific storyboards.  Interactive prioritization of incentives using a card sorting exercise gathered data to whether or not planned incentives actually meet building owner and entrepreneur needs. This will help establish whether the City of Cheyenne understands building owner’s and entrepreneur’s context. It also gauges level of interest with Buildings with a Purpose innovation.

Entrepreneurs Active Participants

One local entrepreneur, Karen Pacheco of Dream Vacations,  journeyed through the storyboards. “I didn’t know what to expect, at first, but I am pleased. It helps me see what my needs are and identify key solutions.” Karen Pacheco

This is a part of Cheyenne being selected as one of thirty-five cities to make the final cut in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge. There will be a six-month long testing period for the Mayors Challenge. City officials will host testing phases for stakeholders (building owners, entrepreneurs, and investors). All phases will be open to the public. These opportunities allow feedback for City officials to better understand unique challenges and hurdles of each stakeholder. Thus, City officials can polish their idea during the testing period. Hence, they will then formalize a final product that best meets the needs of stakeholders. Overcoming challenges to produce successful development in the downtown area is the goal.