Downtown Pasco Development Authority: A Culture-Specific Market for the Latinx Community
Downtown Pasco Development Authority (DPDA) is a Main Street program that promotes inclusiveness, development, and equity within the community through a multi-pronged approach including a radio station, a farmer’s market, youth scholarships, and direct business funding. DPDA also operates a commercial kitchen via an affiliated public authority.
DPDA has built relationships with and focuses its services on 92 microenterprises, all of which are family-owned and nearly all of which are immigrant-owned. More than half of the Franklin County population identifies as Hispanic or Latinx, and in the decade since DPDA was founded, the district’s business mix has developed to serve the cultural needs of the Latinx – and especially Mexican – community. DPDA’s staff – most of whom are bilingual and bicultural – bring both a passion for downtown and the cultural competence needed to build trust and identify the top supports that DPDA can provide to the community.
DPDA provides a variety of business training and technical programs to the district, including through technology grants and a partnership with Wenatchee Community College’s online training programs. DPDA also leases out three stores it owns; subleases storefront space; and leases out office and storage space for cold or dry storage. DPDA wants to bring additional information to its businesses through creation of a networking group at an education-focused institution like a public library. Downtown Pasco’s microenterprises sometimes struggle to understand government regulations and policies. DPDA is planning to conduct community-building between microenterprises and local government staff to build trust and mutual understanding.
Read the full case study in the Main Street & Microenterprise report.