The downtown of any community is considered its heart and soul, and keeping it healthy is important to a city's vitality.

Saline is getting a helping hand with preserving and revitalizing its downtown from the Michigan Main Street Program. Residents can get an overview of the program on Dec. 14.

Last summer, Keith Molin, executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) announced that Saline was one of 10 Michigan communities that had been selected to take part in the program. These communities will receive training during a 10-month period that will cover the “Main Street four-point approach.”

“The four points are organization, promotion, economic restructuring and design,” said Art Trapp, Saline’s downtown development director.

The Dec. 14 meeting will help educate the community on the four-point approach, why it’s important and how anyone can get involved, said Cindy Czubko, chairman of the Saline Business Development Association.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at Saline City Hall ,and anyone interested in how the program can affect downtown Saline should attend. Representatives from the program will give a short presentation and answer questions.

“One never knows what one idea could impact the people who are making the decisions,” said David Rhoads, a Saline City Council member.

He said people should attend the meeting to provide thoughts about the concepts because they “could influence the design and future of our downtown.”

“Downtown is our local heritage, the heart and soul of our community and the place we like to go to get personal customer service from the unique shops owned by our friends and neighbors, Czubko said. "Downtown is the place many of us like to gather for coffee, dining, shopping, music on the streets, parades and so much more. Our downtown represents an important share of the economy through its tax base, jobs and municipal investment."

In addition, “It’s one of the important things on an investor’s list when looking for a community to establish a new business, or when families are looking for a new place to buy a home,” she said. “I, personally, would not live in a community where there was no ‘sense of place,’ showed lack of investment, lack of maintenance and had no sense of community pride.”

The most successful Main Street communities have an incredible volunteer base made up of residents, youth, seniors, government, and business owners, according to the announcement of the meeting.

The approach to downtown revitalization is “a community-driven, grass-roots, comprehensive strategy, that’s been proven throughout the United States since the 1980’s when the National Trust for Historic Preservation realized that a program was needed to preserve and enhance our downtowns across the country,” according to information about the meeting.

Saline’s downtown encompasses Lewis to Harris streets, Henry to McKay Street and includes the former Union School, City Hall and the fire department, Trapp said.

“With dwindling funds at the city level and the state of the economy, we realized we need an organization that is focused solely on the preservation and revitalization of our downtown that would collaborate with the efforts already in place, work on additional efforts that are needed, and also involve the whole community. That’s how Main Street can help,” Czubko said.

There are many organizations and people who are working hard to preserve Saline’s downtown, she said, including the Saline Downtown Merchants Association, the City of Saline, the Saline Business Development Association, and the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Each of these entities serves a very important purpose and role in helping to ensure our downtown is well maintained, a fun place to be with its many events and activities, a great place to shop, and an environment to attract new businesses, but they can’t do it alone,” Czubko said.

To learn more about the Michigan Main Street program go to www.michiganmainstreetcenter.com. To learn more about the National Main Street Center, go to www.preservationnation.org/main-street/ . Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.