Downtown Levelland hosted the “West” Texas Downtown Regional Round Table event Wednesday at Studebaker Events.
Main Street Manager Tania Moody explained that the goal of the event is to connect Texas Downtown Members and Area Professionals.
The event allows those in attendance to share resources, best practices and allow them to leave with useful takeaway’s on forging partnerships, telling their story, grants and funding mechanisms.
“We want you to walk away with some key initiatives that you can implement in your community, business, or organization, to get results,” said Moody.
The day began with “Living La Vida Mosaic” which welcomed those attending to the City of Mosaics.
Information was shared on how Levelland went from 14 mosaic art pieces in the community to 124 in three years.
Additionally, it was detailed how the mosaic additions solidified the city’s brand vision and positioning, utilizing community partners, grants, and creative solutions.
Next, attendees were introduced to the “Forging Partnerships and Fundraising” portion.
Alycyn Keeling presented real world applicable strategies on how small investments and building relationships lead to large capital campaign funds that are renovating and re-opening the historic Wallace Theater after 46 years of vacancy and disrepair.
The third portion of the event was the “Downtown Walking Tour.”
This opportunity allowed individuals to experience the mosaics downtown and take a quick hard-hat tour of the Wallace Theater set to re-open in January 2025.
The “Roundtable Lunch on Funding a Downtown Facelift” covered programs and strategies to finance downtown projects.
Paige Goodell connected attendees to resources and educated them on mechanisms for those hard to fund revitalization projects.
The “Telling Your Story and Creating Buy-In” portion was led by Leonard Williams.
Williams will be sharing how they have taken their mission, vision and branding to a whole new level that creates a culture of buy-in from employees to customers and community.
Keeling is the executive director of the Wallace Theater. She has guided The Wallace from a theater that was closed for over 30 years to an organization that serves the community with 60plus events per year through educational, arts and cultural programming and is producing its own live theatre.
She is currently overseeing a $5.1 Million Capital renovation project and building an education department within the theater that will serve all 4,500 students in Hockley County each year.
She has experience working at the national policy level and worked on the development and implementation of the national Presidential Leadership Scholars Program led by four U.S Presidential Centers.
Keeling currently serves on the board of the League of Historic American Theatres, The Lubbock Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and is a member of the 2022-2023 Texas Tech University Education Policy Fellowship Cohort.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Management degree from Texas A&M University.
Goodell is the local government services program manager at the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC).
She spearheads regional economic development planning and manages a variety of grantfunded projects across the Texas Panhandle.
In her six years at the PRPC, she has worked with more than 30 Texas Panhandle cities on projects and writen grant applications that have resulted in approximately $13 million in federal and state investments in the region.
Goodell has a passion for downtown revitalization and has worked with more than a dozen communities on projects for downtown improvements.
She is a certified public manager and was recognized as an Emerging Leader in 2023 by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation and the Southwest Regional Economic Development Association (SWREDA).
Goodell holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing with an Entrepreneurship Concentration from Southern Methodist University.
Williams serves as the Operating Partner of Mulkey Hospitality Inc. which operates three Chick-fil-A Franchises in Lubbock. In addition to his role as operating partner, he serves as the chief operations and people officer.
Williams has worked for Chick-fil-A for 14 years and has served in many different roles and leadership capacities. He has a passion for growing, developing, and coaching leaders.
As a member of Hillside Christian Church, he serves faithfully as a guest services volunteer, as well as leads high school and college small groups. In the community, Williams serves on numerous advisory boards and committee’s throughout Lubbock ISD and Frenship ISD.
He has been an advocate for leadership development amongst high school students and has launched leadership programs in eight high schools in Lubbock, Frenship and Idalou.
Williams is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana but relocated to Dallas following Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, he moved to Lubbock attend Texas Tech University and earn a bachelor’s degree in history.
Williams met his wife Ashley while they were both in college and working for Chick-fil-A. They have been married for eight years and have three children, Leonard, Braylie and Brooklyn.