Catherine Dunlap, Downtown Revitalization Specialist
The Bureau of Downtown & Community Revitalization welcomes Catherine Dunlap as Downtown Revitalization Specialist for the Wisconsin Main Street Program. In her new duties, Catherine will be providing technical assistance to Wisconsin's 36 Main Street communities. She will be involved in issue-specific technical visits, program assessments, strategic planning, promotional planning, and business development activities.

Catherine Dunlap, Downtown Revitalization Specialist

Catherine has worked in downtown revitalization for more than seven years. She most recently served as the executive director for Downtown Bloomington Association, an Illinois Main Street program.

Prior to coming to Bloomington, Dunlap served as the executive director of Old Town Cape in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a position she held for four years. She also worked for Illinois Main Street and Main Street Mascoutah following stints as a newspaper reporter in Vincennes, Indiana and Mount Vernon, Illinois.

It was during her time in Vincennes that Dunlap was introduced to the Main Street concept while covering a Heritage Tourism Conference there. She has enjoyed her work in the field ever since and said she feels that she learns something new from the communities she has worked in. She said that she believes that strengthening downtowns is very important to ever aspect of the economy because it preserves the history of that community.

Dunlap is excited to be joining the Department of Commerce and Wisconsin Main Street Staff and welcomes the opportunity to take her career to the next level. Embracing the new challenges ahead, she will be using the knowledge and skills she has acquired throughout her career to educate the communities participating in the Wisconsin Main Street Program

Dunlap is originally from Jacksonville, Illinois and received her bachelor's degree from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. She graduated from the National Trust Main Street Center's Certification Institute in Professional Downtown Management in 2003.

--Jeanne Storm

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Please send comments or questions to Barbro McGinn, editor.