The city of St. Joseph has formally been granted Certified status as a Redevelopment Ready Community with an award presented by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation this week.

City Communications Director Kayla Griffith tells us it took several years of work to receive RRC status as the city sought to send a message that it’s open to development and ready for business.

“It involves taking a look at our website, the information that’s out there, making sure that people have good information and access to information around how our boards work, how our processes work, what they need to do to prepare for different meetings, and that sort of thing,” Griffith said.

St. Joseph is the first community to achieve certification in Berrien County and the 85th in the state, with more than 200 communities engaged with the RRC program right now.

Griffith says there are several benefits to being certified as redevelopment ready.

“Redevelopment ready certification is a great indicator to developers who want to come and invest and help us grow towards our vision for outlined in both our city master plan, as well as our downtown vision master plan.”

Plus, Griffith says having the certification opens up more state resources to help with economic development. Representatives of the MEDC were in town Monday to present the certificate to city leaders.

Griffith says people in the past have referred to St. Joseph as “St. No,” and a lot of effort has gone into shaking off that reputation.