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.
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.
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Main Spotlight: Celebrating and Preserving a Culture of Possibility in Allapattah, Miami
The Plaza Seafood Market has operated at this location for 40 years along NW 17th Avenue in Little Santo Domingo. Photo courtesy National Trust for Historic Preservation staff.
On May 9, the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2023. For the first time in its 36-year history, this list—which raises awareness about some of our country’s most significant sites and the threats that they face—included a cultural district located within a designated Main Street America community.
Little Santo Domingo in Miami, Florida, is the commercial and cultural heart of Allapattah, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. It has been shaped by a history of immigration, continual reinvention, and entrepreneurial innovation reminiscent to many American towns. Originally Seminole land, the first significant demographic shift occurred as White residents moved into the area concurrent with Miami’s development into a metropolitan hub during the 1920s.
Throughout the 20th century, distinct waves of new residents of Cuban, African American, and Dominican ancestry followed. In 2003, the City of Miami named a portion of Allapattah “Little Santo Domingo,” in recognition of the Dominican residents who moved to the area beginning in the 1980s. Today, Little Santo Domingo is home to 300 small businesses, a diverse community of Hispanic, Black, and immigrant residents, and a rich cultural heritage essential to the identity of Allapattah.
Today the neighborhood – defined by NW 17th Avenue between 20th and 36th Street – is also home to local leaders and organizations, such as The Allapattah Collaborative (TAC), committed to investing in the community’s future while preserving its past. TAC emerged from a community engagement process focused on creating an equitable development action plan for the neighborhood. In 2021, after a rigorous two-year application process, TAC earned designation as a Main Street program, followed quickly by designation as Florida Main Street community. Like Main Street programs across the country, TAC is leading efforts to honor and preserve the neighborhood’s rich local history, cultural heritage, and entrepreneurial spirit, while increasing economic prosperity.
Left: Locally-owned bakeries and barber shops are among the more than 300 small businesses operating in the Allapattah neighborhood, serving residents and visitors. Right: A new housing development adjacent to older, smaller commercial buildings in Little Santo Domingo. Photo courtesy National Trust for Historic Preservation staff.
From supporting hundreds of family-owned, community-serving small businesses to developing a community-driven neighborhood master plan that includes heritage preservation strategies, TAC, residents, partners, and business owners exemplify the visionary work of Main Street leaders.
Little Santo Domingo’s inclusion on the 2023 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places acknowledges that this historic commercial corridor is facing significant pressure from speculative real estate development that threatens to demolish older structures and displace existing residents and businesses. However, this designation also recognizes Little Santo Domingo as a district that is exemplary of the quintessential American story – one that is an interconnected tapestry of immigration, ingenuity, resilience, and a culture of possibility – and one whose legacy is worthy of preserving.
The community is particularly concerned about losing its cultural identity and mix of neighborhood-serving small businesses, including restaurants, bakeries, barber shops, salons, and auto repair shops. For this reason, TAC plans to leverage this designation to bolster proactive, grassroots initiatives, including:
Fundraising for their Thrive In-Place Fund to acquire and develop commercial properties using a community land trust model to ensure long-term affordability for residents and businesses;
Developing a community-driven neighborhood master plan that includes heritage preservation strategies such as local and national historic designation;
Creating a more open and inclusive public process regarding decision-making about development in the neighborhood.
Communities like Little Santo Domingo are the heartbeat of a city, and the visionary work of The Allapattah Collaborative to proactively respond to threats of displacement through holistic, strategic, and community-centered initiatives provides a valuable model for advancing long-term strategies for sustainable growth.
Allapattah leaders hope that this designation lifts up the district as a national example for how Main Street leaders build community wealth, celebrate diverse cultural legacies, and support local entrepreneurship at the neighborhood scale.
SnowShoe, a Main Street America Allied Member, is this quarter's Main Spotlight advertiser. For more information about what they do to support Main Street organizations, click here >
In this video, learn more about the Williams’ family story, how the business is helping to revive downtown Helena, and the impact they’re having on a national level.
In honor of National Disaster Preparedness Month, we are providing some practical steps that Main Streets can take to prepare for the next, inevitable disaster.
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.
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.
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 how Rethos, the Coordinating partner for Minnesota Main Streets, has partnered with Reuse Minnesota and the Minnesota GreenCorps Program to encourage community-led preservation.
Main Street organizations and other public-private partnerships can provide the focal point needed to fulfill the large number of roles required to reuse or redevelop a house of worship in a way that benefits the community.
How do those amazing Main Street rehabilitation projects happen? And what policies and public support make them happen? In the Behind the Ribbon Cutting series, we look at a project or businesses from concept to opening day to break down the partnerships and funding brought to bear and recognize how we can advocate for policies and resources for revitalization across the country.
Main Street America welcomed the National Association For Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) to our Twitter channel to share stories of resiliency in Latino communities.
We sat down with Lindsey Wallace, Director of Strategic Projects and Design Services and manager of the the National Park Service Main Street Community Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Program, to learn more about her perspective on disaster preparedness on Main Street.
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) Main Street Task Force is working to increase education, compile examples and data, and provide recommended changes at the national level where necessary.
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 2015, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to engage Wisconsin Main Street organizations and farmers markets in the Metrics and Indicators for Impact – Farmers Markets (MIFI-FM) toolkit.
With 413 National Park areas¹ and over 1,000 Main Street America programs, it’s no surprise that many of the communities following the Four Point Approach serve as gateways to our national parks.
We measure the effectiveness of our last marketing campaign, weigh whether the investment in new street lights outweigh the political capital spent, and debate if the thousands of volunteer hours are worth the impacts created by a one-day event.
Main Street Iowa, a program of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Iowa Downtown Resource Center, created a one-of-a-kind three-year program to provide help for performance venues located in Main Street districts.