One month into his new role, Dubuque Main Street Director David Barba says the organization is expanding the scope of its services and reorienting itself toward online and youth engagement.

Dubuque Main Street serves as a front office for the business community of downtown Dubuque and is designed to drive community engagement through events, advocate for the interest of the downtown district and facilitate connection and innovation from new entrepreneurs by reducing entry barriers through referrals for grants and training.

Barba, the nonprofit’s new leader, was hired in March after serving as its interim director since January following the departure of Danielle Jacobs.

“There’s a lot of great resources, incentives and grants for people who want to start a business or get anything going in Dubuque,” Barba said. “That can be a really confusing web to navigate, especially if you’re new to the whole world of grant writing and community development incentives. I think Dubuque Main Street can be a comfortable and accessible stop on that journey.”

Given ever-changing political winds and consumer spending habits, small businesses have developed new needs; Barba believes solutions to those challenges are best found at the local level.

“I think that much of the apathy towards community engagement these days comes from people — not just young people but anybody just bombarded with these big national, global issues (online) and feeling like they can’t really do anything about them,” he said. “But in a local scene? In Dubuque, you can do a lot about them. I was able to find a path for myself. I think anybody can do that. I’m not that special. I became invested in Dubuque this way because Dubuque became invested in me.”

Applying skills

Barba attended Clarke University to study graphic design but dropped out during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead “making the business decision” to bet on himself, he said.

He began painting murals around Dubuque and landed a job with RiverBluff Collective in East Dubuque, Ill., and, eventually, an association with the Dubuque Area Arts Collective. Through that organization he helped host monthly art shows and bring attention to local artists.

“I see the same things in that first art show as in somebody who wants to start a business,” Barba said. “There’s that same moment of helping people realize that they can really do this, and it’s not just reserved for people who already have money or a business.”

Now Barba applies his design skills and internet savvy to bringing local businesses to relevance on the internet, or even just on paper. He believes Dubuque Main Street’s impact can go beyond grant writing and hosting events like the ever-popular Dubuque Farmers Market, which opens for the season on Saturday, May 3.

“Not every business will get a grant they apply for,” Barba said. “What I think I can do that previous directors did not is business (marketing) services that anyone can take advantage of.”

Barba felt inspired to do more at a meeting for the nonprofit Dubuque Forward, which cultivates local entrepreneurship. There, participants voiced frustrations with the prevalence of online shopping and fast-food delivery.

“How does a small business compete with that?” Barba asked. “The traditional thinking is we need to convince people they really want to come down in person and try to change habits built (by corporations). But I think there’s also a responsibility to meet those people where they’re at. Instead of fighting against the digital space, I think downtown businesses need to embrace it and learn how to wield it.”

He said the internet provides a global audience, which in turn helps businesses serve customers anywhere.

“You don’t have to (only) rely on the amount of people who are walking by your store,” Barba said.

The extra work of maintaining a website can be taxing, he said, which is where he believes Dubuque Main Street comes in.

Helping the community

Even before Barba’s tenure as Dubuque Main Street’s director began, Greg Harrison came into the organization’s office with a handwritten menu that was “real rough looking,” Barba said. Harrison’s popup business, Greg’s BBQ, needed some help getting off the ground.

Operations Manager Laura Bertjens built a typed menu and provided printouts Harrison would regularly collect each month. Barba says when he joined, he visited Harrison during food service to take photos of him, his food and his team. Dubuque Main Street posted the menu on Facebook and shared it around, and Harrison sold out.

“He had like 200 phone calls that day,” Barba said. “He called me back and gave me a voicemail the day after. (It was) incredibly sweet.”

It’s this mindset that sold the Dubuque Main Street board on Barba as its next leader.

“David … is really a big perspective thinker,” said Dubuque Main Street Board President Creed Waelchli. “He really likes to try and include all of the generations. All types of people; business owners, employees and really the community and our citizens. What their interests are and what they hope our downtown will be.”

Having Barba’s youthful energy lead the way was another deciding factor in his hiring.

“He’s really brought a great perspective on what his generation wants to see that maybe our organization wasn’t previously thinking of … he’s realistic in what our small staff (of two) can accomplish,” Waelchli said.