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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.
Hillsboro, Oregon © Alicia Gallo
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $20 billion in federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) awards distributed to eight national non-profit consortiums. The broad goal of these funds is to mobilize financing and private capital for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects in communities across the country.
Throughout 2023, Main Street America (MSA) led an advocacy campaign to ensure that these funds can be used for the adaptive reuse and retrofit of older and historic buildings – especially in disinvested communities, including many communities of color and rural areas. This is a huge win for all of us who care about Main Streets!
GGRF will benefit a broad swath of communities across the nation in creating spaces for housing, small businesses, and civic uses such as childcare centers. These funds aim to improve quality of life by reducing pollution while also enhancing the existing built environment. The eight awarded consortiums represent numerous partners and financial institutions that will be looking to deploy funds to transformational projects in communities like those in our Main Street network.
Historic building renovation project in Marion, Iowa. © Uptown Marion Main Street
In the coming days we will share more about this new federal program, but today we want to congratulate our partners at the Green Bank for Rural America (GBRA)/Appalachian Community Capital (ACC), which received a $500MM allocation of GGRF funds. MSA serves as a steering committee member for the GBRA, and all of us within the National Trust enterprise, including National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) and the National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC), are excited to support the GBRA in deploying GGRF funds. We know these funds are greatly needed by small towns, which often face barriers accessing affordable financing to support revitalization projects.
As NTHP President & CEO Carol Quillen notes in today’s press release, “In many, many rural communities across the country there are abandoned older and historic buildings that can be repurposed to reduce carbon emissions while also meeting the urgent need for new housing and local commercial space. We are delighted and grateful that the Green Bank for Rural America will soon be able to provide the low-cost capital required to bring these buildings back to life.” Read the press release here.
GRRF funds are targeted to support communities of all sizes. Our partners, including Climate United, expect to deploy funds to all geographies. Climate United, which received $7 billion in funding today, is a dynamic coalition made up of Calvert Impact, the Community Preservation Corporation, and Self-Help – all of whom have an exemplary record of deploying capital to support green and community-serving projects. Climate United, the Coalition for Green Capital, and other awardees are primed to engage community members on these projects as funds are dispersed in coming years.
Main Street America looks forward to partnership and engagement with awardees and local programs to identify projects and expand impact throughout the network. Read more about our efforts to identify new sources of capital to support small-scale real estate projects and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund advocacy efforts here.
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
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
Insights from Main Street leaders and Main Street-oriented housing developers who recently participated in a virtual convening on this topic.
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.
