The Hilltop Campus Village is a great place with many lively businesses and activities, and that’s the message Brian Kramer wants the community to know.
On Monday, May 1, the 44-year-old Mr. Kramer was named the new executive director of the Hilltop Campus Village, which is a nonprofit organization that promotes economic and community development in the central Davenport area. He succeeds Molly Otting Carlson in the leadership position.
As executive director, he is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Hilltop Campus Village, including fundraising, implementing the organization’s strategic plan, and strengthening the existing relationships with Main Street Iowa and Main Street USA organizations as well as with local government and the Hilltop Business Association.
“There are so many vibrant things going on here. … The Hilltop is a main part of Davenport,” Mr. Kramer said during an interview with the QCBJ on Friday morning, May 5, at the neighborhood’s Donuts & More at 1717 N. Brady St.
Mr. Kramer and the QCBJ met there because Mr. Kramer’s Hilltop office – about a block away at 122 E. 15th St. – is in the midst of remodeling work, and because the new executive director wants to spend as much time as possible visiting people and businesses in the Hilltop community.
He wants to get a look at how business is going. (On Friday morning, Donuts & More appeared to be doing a brisk business as many customers came into the shop, and others lined up in cars at the drive-through window.) “Look at this. Since we’ve been here, it’s been this busy,” he noted.
In addition to looking over the Hilltop businesses, Mr. Kramer has been spending his first few days on the job going to meetings and listening to many people from the neighborhood. He has been hearing their hopes, wishes and some complaints.
“People here are excited. … A lot of them want somebody to show up and listen to them. My first days have been a hodgepodge of meetings with business owners and jumping on conference calls,” said Mr. Kramer, who estimates he has been in at least 24 meetings in his first few days on the job.
Those conversations with people in the Hilltop have helped him focus on several goals for the neighborhood. They include:
- Help end some wrong and negative perceptions about the Hilltop. Some of those wrong views include that the Hilltop has a problem with crime and there is not much to do in the area. The truth is, he said, crime is not a great problem and there are many great businesses and activities in the Hilltop. He did add, though, that he has heard several comments from residents concerned with speeding vehicles in the neighborhood. He also pointed out that the thousands of out-of-town visitors will get a view of the neighborhood in late July during the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race. That’s because more than a mile of that race goes through the Hilltop.
- Business owners in the area want more access to programs to help develop and grow their operations. During one of his many meetings, Mr. Kramer met with the Donuts & More owner who wanted to see if empty land near the doughnut shop could be developed.
- Business owners want more Hilltop activities to help draw people to the neighborhood.
A large part of Mr. Kramer’s job will focus on economic development and small business development. He says his past experience has greatly helped him prepare for those tasks.
That experience includes more than 20 years in several jobs including: being a staff worker nearly five years for former U.S. Congressman Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa; community services coordinator for Project NOW in Rock Island; fundraising at Grinnell (Iowa) College; and a campaign manager for several political candidates.
He said his new Hilltop job is much like being a political organizer in one of his past jobs. That is, he is meeting a lot of people and making introductions at many meetings.
“We are thrilled to have Brian Kramer join our team,” Ted Galvin, Hilltop Campus Village Board president and vice president of Member Business Services at Ascentra Credit Union, said in a news release. “His experience and dedication to strengthening local business and neighborhoods will be invaluable as we continue to work towards our goal of making the Hilltop Campus Village a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive place to live, work, shop and visit.”
The Hilltop Campus Village is experiencing a time of development and expansion, where Mr. Kramer’s expertise will be put to good use. “We look forward to all Mr. Kramer’s experience will bring to our ever-growing Hilltop Area,” Kelly Wallace, treasurer of the Hilltop Business Association, said in the release.
Mr. Kramer said that one of the unique and wonderful aspects of the Hilltop is that it is made up of a variety of businesses and groups. He said the Hilltop is about one-third businesses, one-third residential and one-third nonprofits. That mixture makes the neighborhood a lively and vibrant place he wants to help thrive.
“No day is going to be the same here,” he added.
