For Lehighton, it’s about where it was, where it is and where it’s headed.

Strategies on how to build upon its success were shared during a downtown revitalization community forum this week at the Lehighton Outdoor Center.

Borough Manager Nicole Beckett welcomed the more than 50 people in attendance and explained that now is the time for the borough to build on the strides it has made.

“There’s definitely momentum in the community, and there’s definitely momentum in the downtown,” Beckett said. “It’s about promoting being a healthy, active community.”

As she looked around, Beckett noted, “A lot of our success stories are in the room.”

Beckett specifically heaped praise on the Lehighton Outdoor Center, Lehighton Downtown Initiative and various businesses in the downtown.

“They are successes,” she said. “They are our steps forward into giving people places to go in the downtown.”

Beckett said the next step is the Main Street Four Point Approach.

“We need you to come on board with us and establish what our entire business district should look like,” she said.

Beckett noted they have identified 13 members of the steering committee, and are looking for another six to 10 members to help round it out.

The forum was facilitated by Teresa Lynch, one of two Main Street specialists who led a Main Street Community Assessment Visit to the borough in August 2013 — funded by a grant award from the National Association of Realtors — and author of the follow-up assessment report.

“Join me in the applause for what has happened here in the last five years since I’m here,” Lynch said. “You’ve done a phenomenal job.”

After a round of applause from the audience to that effect, Lynch stressed that the borough is at a “critical point” not only because so much has happened, but also because there are still challenges that need more people to work on more projects.

The forum was hosted with the steering committee, community members and local stakeholders, and described the present status of revitalization efforts in Lehighton, discussed successes that have occurred in the business district and immediate environs over the past five years, and identified challenges that still exist and introduced the concept of building a volunteer organization based on the Main Street Approach to commercial revitalization.

A PowerPoint presentation was given on the concept of building a community-based, volunteer-driven volunteer organization based on the Main Street Four Point Approach, along with an overview of the Main Street Program.

Lynch gave a presentation on the Main Street Four Point Approach to downtown revitalization as developed by the National Main Street Center more than 35 years ago.

She said the Main Street Approach has been the primary tool for guiding communities across the nation in their efforts to restore economic and social vitality to their downtown business districts.

“Main Street committees are the backbone of the program,” Lynch said. “It’s a step-by-step process.”

Beckett said that while tourism is huge, the borough also wants to be sure that it offers enough for its residents.

“We also want to make it so that our residents want to be in our downtown, and supporting our businesses,” she said.

Lynch said that in the spring, they will begin to work on a fundraising plan.

Apart from the forum, Lynch’s two-day visit included the provision of downtown revitalization, technical assistance and training sessions for borough leaders and community volunteers.

Lynch, along with Beckett and members of the steering committee, conducted a tour of the downtown district, reviewed the activities and projects since the original downtown assessment, and identified opportunities and strategies for dealing with the issues not yet resolved since the 2013 report.

The steering committee consists of local business owners, local government officials, members of the Lehighton Downtown Initiative and residents.

On Wednesday, Lynch worked with Beckett and steering committee members in the development of a rudimentary work plan based on the Four Points of the Main Street Program: Organization, Design, Promotion and Economic Vitality; and later that evening, Four Point Training for the “Main Street” Steering Committee members took place.

Beckett said the borough anticipates receiving a Phase II Assessment Report in December.

Through that program, she said the borough will look at the downtown and “where we were, where we are and where we are headed.”

The visit was funded by a second National Association of Realtors grant awarded to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors, with matching support from Lehighton Borough Council.

Lynch has served as the statewide coordinator of the Main Street Arkansas Program and the coordinator of the statewide Virginia Main Street Program; the executive director of a rural Main Street program in Orange, Virginia; and a senior program officer with the National Main Street Center for 14 years, where she provided downtown revitalization assistance and training to communities in more than 20 states across the country.