Governor Matt Blunt has begun a two-day tour of the state, promoting a new economic development program to help small communities develop their downtowns. Blunt calls it the DREAM initiative. DREAM stands for Downtown Revitalization Economic Assistance for Missouri. He says the state offers a wealth of programs to spur development. Blunt says the Department of Economic Development found three obstacles hurting small town development: They don’t have the means to navigate state requirements, they don’t have the professionals to make good applications for funding; and the don’t have the expertise to draft the required redevelopment plan. Blunt says the new program will give six to ten cities additional help to get the money they need to redevelop their downtowns.
