What?
VenturaPOP is volunteering to help the Downtown Ventura Partners Community Enrichment Fund raise money to support the types of improvements that residents and businesses have been asking for, like more shade, greenery, better seating, public art, and community events. The City is already working on larger improvements. You can get City updates here.
Why?
The City Council voted to keep Main Street car-free in September 2025 and Ventura businesses and residents alike want to see progress along Downtown Main Street. We believe when residents and the City work towards the same goal, we see better results faster.
Small changes have big impacts. Last year VenturaPOP collaborated with DVO, BellRinger and other businesses to double the number of picnic tables downtown. We see families enjoying them daily. This is one small example of where our community has improved Downtown Main Street.
Who?
The City of Ventura is the legal authority and long-term steward of Main Street Moves. The City is in charge of the street closure, leading the Vision Plan, managing the environmental review, and has committed to invest over $3 million in near-term improvements including bollards, planters, ADA upgrades, and street furniture, while also overseeing the new parklet permitting program that transitions businesses from temporary to permanent structures.
Downtown Ventura Partners (DVP) manages the PBID (Property and Business Improvement District) in accordance with their city contract. DVP’s operating budget is funded by property owner assessments and contracts, with 70% dedicated to clean and safe services, 20% to economic enhancements like events and business recruitment, and 10% to advocacy and administration. DVP also raises money through its nonprofit arm, the Downtown Ventura Partners Community Enrichment Fund.
VenturaPOP is a group of residents who care about making Ventura a more people-centered place (accessible by people of all ages and abilities, with shade, ample seating, green space and something to enjoy). VenturaPOP is not a nonprofit, a business, or a formal entity. It is personally funded by volunteers out of their own pockets. VenturaPOP is a product of community support to keep Main Street Car-Free, having since collected thousands of signatures and organized events including Main Street POPs Off.
How?
Your donation goes to the Downtown Ventura Partners (DVP) Community Enrichment Fund (CEF), which is the 501(c)(3) arm of DVP. The CEF handles all accounting, legal, reporting, and fiduciary responsibilities and provides regular fund reports to VenturaPOP, which will be published publicly on our website. The DVP CEF Federal Tax ID Number is: 39-2479060.
A 501(c)(3) is a federally recognized nonprofit organization which means your donation is tax-deductible, and every dollar is legally required to go toward the mission it was raised for.
Mission: The Downtown Ventura Partners Community Enrichment Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the heart of our city through strategic investments in safety, cleanliness, culture, and community development. In close partnership with Downtown Ventura Partners, we raise and allocate resources to support initiatives that foster a vibrant, inclusive, and economically thriving community. Our work includes funding public art, infrastructure improvements, cultural programming, and community services — along with activations and experiences that bring our streets to life. We are committed to making Ventura’s downtown, promenade, and Front Street areas exciting, welcoming, and enriching for both residents and visitors.
You can verify DVP CEF’s 501(c)(3) status by visiting the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search Tool and entering their EIN Number, which is: 39-2479060.
Become a Member Today!
Main Street Curious – $1/month – You’re here. You care. That’s everything.
Shop and Stroll – $5/month – You live for the little treats in life.
Patio Regular – $15/month – Our weather requires outdoor dining and you know it.
Downtown Dreaming – $30/month – You see the vision and you’re helping make it real.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name – $60/month – You’re a fixture. The kind of neighbor who makes a street feel like a neighborhood.
Our Hometown Hero – $100/month – You love this town and you keep showing up. Hero status.
The Mayor of Main Street – $250/month – Someday, someone will walk down our pedestrianized Main Street and have no idea how it got that way. But you’ll know because you helped build it, and that legacy is worth every penny.
Monthly giving is automatically collected on the same day each month as your initial donation. One-time gifts are also welcome and appreciated in any amount.
We’re Members?
Donations are centered around monthly giving because Main Street isn’t a one-time project. It’s an ongoing commitment. A monthly gift builds a genuine membership in Downtown Ventura and creates a growing community of neighbors who are invested, month after month, in the future of their street.
Just as Main Street is designed to welcome everyone, inclusive of age, ability, or background, this campaign welcomes everyone’s support, regardless of what they can give. No gift is too small, and no neighbor is left out.
Our Vision
Main Street is the heart of Ventura: a welcoming, pedestrian-first, safe destination where residents and visitors come to shop, dine, gather and belong. Surrounded by trees and planters, enriched by local art, and animated by family-friendly community events, the space looks less like a street and more like a permanent town square. It is a place with intention: accessible, vibrant, and connected. Local businesses grow and thrive. Neighbors become friends when the street invites them to slow down and experience community at an individual level. And everyone who enjoys it, whether it be families, locals, newcomers or visitors, find something here that feels like theirs.
Transparency Promise
We know that trust has to be earned. There will be regular financial reports published on this website.