I’m Carl Rosa, Connecticut Main Street Center’s new Field Services Director. This is a newly created position with a main responsibility that involves visiting with all current member downtowns as well as cultivating new communities into our CMSC family.

Prior to this role, for over 17 years, I had the privilege and honor of being the first Director and CEO of Main Street Waterbury. In that position, my responsibilities included administering the downtown program through the Main Street Four Points Approach and all of the challenges and rigors that come with that, leading it to the mature nationally accredited program that it is today. In fact, I’m pleased to say, from the first year of inception, Main Street Waterbury achieved accreditation status from Main Street America for 17 consecutive years.

This is an achievement that I am truly proud of and could not have been accomplished without the direct guidance, consultation and support of the Connecticut Main Street Center. In addition, in that role, I had the opportunity to travel to many downtowns across our beautiful state and visit with my colleagues as we shared similar stories about our challenges and hopes.

This is why I am so thrilled to be a new member of the CMSC team. I know firsthand the positive impact that CMSC has on downtowns across Connecticut. We are the “go to” for all things downtown.

We are the champion for best practices and standards that every downtown should aspire to. In my new role, as I meet with downtown practitioners and municipal leaders throughout the State, I plan to listen, learn, and offer whatever resources I can on behalf of CMSC to help your downtowns survive and thrive. My mantra is: Only Solutions!