The N.C. Department of Commerce, Office of Urban Development has announced that 20 North Carolina communities have achieved accreditation from the National Main Street Center for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Main Street Center®, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street® programs, which have demonstrated exemplary commitment to historic preservation and community revitalization through the Main Street Four Point Approach®.
The North Carolina Main Street programs that have earned accreditation for their 2013 performance are Brevard, Burlington, Clayton, Concord, Elizabeth City, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Goldsboro, Hickory, Kings Mountain, Lincolnton, Marion, Monroe, Morganton, New Bern, Spruce Pine, Statesville, Wake Forest, Waynesville and Wilson.
“North Carolina’s accredited Main Street programs have worked diligently to meet the standards established by the National Main Street Center, and we are pleased to see them recognized on a national level for their achievement,” said Liz Parham, director of the N.C. Office of Urban Development. “Local Main Street programs across our state work every day to bring jobs and businesses to their downtowns, which strengthens the overall economy of their communities and, in turn, that of North Carolina as a whole.”
“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for their outstanding accomplishment in meeting the National Main Street Center’s performance standards,” said Patrice Frey, president & CEO of the National Main Street Center. “Accredited Main Street programs create vibrant communities by using a comprehensive strategy to preserve their historic character and revitalize their commercial districts, which helps make these great places to work, live, play and visit.”
Working in partnership with the National Main Street Center, the North Carolina Main Street Center evaluates each of the state’s local Main Street organizations annually to identify those programs that meet ten performance standards. These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program’s application of the Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial district revitalization. Evaluation criteria determine the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings. More information is available at National Main Street Accreditation.
Established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980, the National Main Street Center helps communities of all sizes revitalize their older and historic commercial districts. Working in more than 2,200 downtowns and urban neighborhoods over the last 34 years, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $59.6 billion in new public and private investment. Participating communities have created 502,728 net new jobs and 115,381 net new businesses and have rehabilitated more than 246,158 buildings, leveraging an average of $33.28 in new investment for every dollar spent on their Main Street district revitalization efforts.