Certified Downtown Professional

Role of a Downtown Professional
This class provides an overview of the downtown professional role and helps empower downtown development professionals to gain objective and credible recognitions for their dedication and knowledge. Participants will delve into how to provide a program with clear expectations, a high level of partner confidence and credibility among elected officials and local leaders.

Fundamentals of Organizational Development and Management
This class provides a high-level overview of the foundational components that make up good organizational development. Participants will learn the importance and role that each component plays in good organizational practices.

Downtown Development Authority Law
Participants will learn about the creation of Downtown Development Authorities (DDA), the relationship between DDAs and the local government, geographic and functional boundaries of the DDA, organizational and operational structure of the DDA, along with ethical and legal implications.

Downtown Preservation and Design
This class helps the downtown development professional gain a working knowledge of historic preservation objectives and benefits; basic methodology and best management practices; and tools utilized for guiding context-based decisions.

Event Planning, Implementation, and Marketing
This class provides an overview of the benefits of various events; how to effectively plan events and use social media to market downtown; and understand the economic impact of events in downtowns while learning from practitioners with real-life examples.

Planning and Land Use for Downtowns

The purpose of this class is to acquaint downtown development professionals with Georgia’s comprehensive planning requirement and the basics of zoning ordinances. Downtown professionals will participate in the city’s planning process, ensure downtown has appropriate zoning, and focus on implementing the comprehensive plan for downtown.

Partnerships and Community Engagement Purpose
This class teaches downtown development professionals the value of partnerships, how to identify gaps in support, and how to work with the board and local government on impactful community engagement.

Ethics and Inclusive Programming
This class examines the importance of ethical conduct in the administration of a downtown development professional’s public duties and discuss ethical dilemmas that often confront them. Participants will gain knowledge, understanding and skills to communicate and cooperate effectively across cultural barriers as well as build programming that is inclusive to everyone in a community.

Funding, Resources, and Tools I
This class provides downtown development professionals with a working knowledge of the powers and programs available to either facilitate development by the authority or to incentivize development by the private sector.

Business Development and Support
This class will facilitate a deeper understanding of how market analysis can be used to enhance business development, identify critical components of a business plan for greatest success, and how to guide prospective entrepreneurs to community and regional resources.

Strategic and Master Planning
Downtown development professionals will learn a system for establishing a common direction for their organization to help guide future activity. This class introduces the principles and methods of strategic planning for downtown development authorities and master planning for downtown districts.

Effective Communication and Public Speaking
This class demonstrates how to maintain positive workplace relationships by improving specific interpersonal, group and organizational communication skills. Practical and interactive exercises will give participants the opportunity to reflect on communication skills and learn how to become more effective communicators at work. Downtown development professionals will learn how to develop presentation content, how to deliver an effective presentation, and how to better convey messages when speaking to groups and presenting ideas, concepts, projects, recommendations and reports.

Real Estate Development and Finance
This class demonstrates and discusses downtown development projects and best practices for anticipating and overcoming barriers that may occur in these projects. Downtown development professionals will become equipped to facilitate economic development projects from start to finish.

Funding, Resources, and Tools II
This class provides downtown development professionals with an in-depth understanding of how to use funding, resources and tools for a variety of development projects.