Join us May 6 – 8 in Birmingham, Alabama, for the 2024 Main Street Now Conference!
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Marion, Iowa © Tasha Sams
We work in collaboration with thousands of local partners and grassroots leaders across the nation who share our commitment to advancing shared prosperity, creating resilient economies, and improving quality of life.
Emporia, Kansas © Emporia Main Street
Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities, and urban commercial districts, the thousands of organizations, individuals, volunteers, and local leaders that make up Main Street America™ represent the broad diversity that makes this country so unique.
Chicago, Illinois © Main Street America
Looking for strategies and tools to support you in your work? Delve into the Main Street Resource Center and explore a wide range of resources including our extensive Knowledge Hub, professional development opportunities, field service offerings, advocacy support, and more!
Waterloo, Iowa © Main Street Waterloo
Your one-stop-shop for all the latest stories, news, events, and opportunities – including grants and funding programs – across Main Street.
Kendall Whittier — Tulsa, Oklahoma © Kendall Whittier Main Street
Join us in our work to advance shared prosperity, create strong economies, and improve quality of life in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
In cities big and small across the United States, concerns about the supply and cost of housing are widespread. Main Street communities are no exception. Housing challenges are clearly on the minds of Main Street practitioners. At the virtual Main Street Now conference last year, the topic of housing repeatedly emerged in a variety of sessions, and in a recent survey conducted by Main Street America, 87 percent of Main Street managers indicated concern about the state of housing in their Main Street districts. But how could the housing circumstances of Main Street districts be improved?
With the generous support of the 1772 Foundation, Main Street America’s Research team recently launched the “At Home on Main Street” project, a four-part housing research initiative that aims to provide action-oriented recommendations and support the network in strengthening Main Streets through thoughtful housing development.
Today, we’re excited to share the first major release from this effort: a data-centric report on the state of housing in Main Street districts. The report, titled At Home on Main Street: A Report on the State of Housing in Downtown and Neighborhood Commercial Districts, includes insights from Main Street leaders and Main Street-oriented housing developers who recently participated in a virtual convening on this topic. It also includes analysis of brand-new census data focused on housing density, vacancy, age, cost, and more.
There will be more to come from this research initiative, including a series of case studies on promising solutions to the housing challenges and barriers to housing development that Main Street leaders describe seeing in their communities. Also forthcoming is an online self-auditing tool where Main Street managers and city officials can look up housing data on their communities, see how their communities’ housing circumstances compare with those of their surrounding areas, and get direction on potential solutions that may be helpful in supporting an improved state of housing where they are.
We’ll be discussing all of this and more at the Main Street Now Conference in Richmond next week, starting off with a 75-minute session on Monday morning at 10:45am. In Monday’s “At Home on Main Street” session, Mike Powe will discuss the housing data featured in the report and facilitate a discussion with attendees about how Main Street leaders can help close the gap between their current housing realities and the brighter housing futures that are within reach.
Other standout housing-focused sessions at Main Street Now will include:
Urban Impact Inc., harnesses strategic investments and collaborative efforts to foster a vibrant and sustainable future, from visionary adaptive reuse ventures to transformative development grants for small businesses and property owners in Birmingham, Alabama's historic 4th Avenue Black Business District.
We are excited to announce the Building Opportunities on Main Street (BOOMS) Tracker, a new free tool to help designated Main Streets unlock the potential of their vacant properties. This user-friendly property inventory tool allows local leaders can gather, store, and showcase information about their district’s built environment to plan and advocate for new property uses.
Denison, Texas © Mel Climer – Climer Design
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $20B in federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) awards distributed to eight national non-profit consortiums. Main Street America looks forward to partnership and engagement with awardees and local programs to identify projects and expand impact throughout our network.
Hillsboro, Oregon © Alicia Gallo
Answer 12 questions to find out the "personality" of your district and resources that cover related housing topics.
Macon, GA
Middlesboro Main Street in Middlesboro, Ky., Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, Ill., and Sugar Creek Business Association in Charlotte, N.C., have each been awarded $100,000 through The Hartford Small Business Accelerator Grant Program in partnership with Main Street America.
Learn how the HUD Pro Housing Program and other opportunities can help you increase affordable housing in your community.
Learn how Majd Alsaif, Celeste Constancio, and Leilani Commons supported Main Street America this summer.
Learn how the National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and the Clean Communities Accelerator Fund (CCIA) will pump billions of dollars into reducing carbon emissions from the built environment in the coming years.
Main Street America is leading a coalition urging that the EPA make available the GGRF funds for adaptive reuse and location-efficient projects because of the substantial greenhouse gas emissions reduction offered by such developments.
Spencer Main Street's Main Street Micro Grants is injecting key funding into their small business ecosystem.
Spencer, IA © Spencer Main Street
From 19th-century mill girls to Maine's mill redevelopments and the regional manufacturers of tomorrow, learn about the amazing history and promise of the New England mill.
Biddeford, ME © Heart of Biddeford
A practical and easily digestible report containing practical “how-to’s” designed to help local leaders support housing development in their communities.
Main Street America's research team takes a look at the data presented in the At Home on Main Street and offers relevant insights for Main Street managers looking to understand downtown and neighborhood commercial district housing trends.
In Fall 2022, MSA partnered with infill developer and small-deal guru Jim Heid and the Incremental Development Alliance to conduct surveys on the barriers to small-scale real estate projects across the United States. Here we share the results.
This article was published on January 10, 2023, by Next City, a nonprofit news organization focused on socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable urban practices.
Learn about the City of Boston’s efforts to invest in economic equity.
Learn how this West Virginia community redirected façade improvement funds to revive local commercial kitchens.
Interested in implementing a small-scale development project in your district? Mike Scholl of Ayres Associates, who worked with Downtown Laramie Wyoming on their Empress Lofts project, lays out some of the key considerations for Main Streets working on development projects.
Laramie, WY © Mike Scholl
Main Street America launches a project to learn more about the specific barriers to small-scale real estate development on our Main Streets and identify solutions for financing small-scale deals.
learn how Rethos: Places Reimagined is encouraging upper-floor development through their program funded by the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant Program.
Red Wing, MN © Megan Tsui
California communities to share their latest developments, including innovative initiatives, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and profoundly place- and people-based projects.
Fremont, CA © City of Fremont
Read how Virginia Main Street programs have driven progress downtown through key small-scale real estate projects.
Leverage NC, a partnership between North Carolina Main Street and the North Carolina League of Municipalities, hosted a four-part webinar series titled Better Community Planning & Economic Development led by Ed McMahon, Chair Emeritus of Main Street America and a leading national authority on land use policy and economic development.
In contrast, the Main Street Program in Laramie, Wyoming, is thriving, having successfully cultivated millions of dollars to help fill these vacant, blighted spaces with permanent structures.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
In Winchester, Virginia, one woman’s vision and commitment to downtown’s revitalization created an innovative community space for the Creative Class.
