The Belton Alliance hosted their first “After 5” community meeting at the Listening Room on Main March 26.  The meeting was intended to introduce the community to the Belton Alliance and its goals and intgroduce the new www.beltonalliance.com website.  Over 65 people attended.

President Bobby Daniel welcomed everyone during a brief program and outlined the purpose and key strategies of the Alliance.  The Belton Alliance is a volunteer organization and was formed to work with public, private and civic entities to promote economic growth and quality of life in the Belton area.  The five key strategies include:

• Economic Development
• Belton Area Revitalization
• Outreach and Web Presence
• Promotion and Events
• Organization, Board and Committees

Daniel explained the Alliance had spent the first two years establishing goals, forming the board and committees, securing a 501-c nonprofit status and working with city and county government.

He introduced John Neel and Rex Maynard to review the new www.beltonalliance.com website.  The site is intended to provide information for local citizens about all that is going on in Belton and promote the area to potential visitors and those who may wish to consider relocating their business or family here.  The website includes information on economic development and a community calendar, plus photo galleries of several key events and areas of the community.  Maynard explained that the hopes were the site would provide the information anyone needed who was interested in Belton.  Maynard encouraged attendees to visit the site to become more familiar with all it offers and provide the Alliance with information that should be included.

A special thanks to Norma Hughes Smith for covering the meeting for the News-Chronicle and providing the pictures for this post.