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Roslindale Village: 38 Years at the Vanguard of Building Resiliency and Reimagining Spaces
Roslindale Summer Farmers Market 2022 ribbon cutting with City of Boston Mayor Wu and residents of all ages. Courtesy of Bruce Spero Photography.
The City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion (OEOI) and Boston Main Streets Foundation are incredibly excited to co-host the 2023 Main Street Now Conference alongside Main Street America in Boston, Massachusetts, from March 27-29. Get to know us and our city of Main Streets through this special blog series! Keep reading to learn more about the resiliency and future-focused mindset of Boston’s Main Streets, and stay tuned for featured articles from our team in the coming weeks.
Conference registration is open, with regular rates available through March 16. Check out the conference website and follow the conference's Facebook and Twitter accounts for the latest updates.
Visionary Beginnings Inspires a City-wide Movement
Roslindale Village Main Street (RVMS) was established in 1985 as one of the first urban Main Street Programs in the nation with the help of City Councilor Thomas M. Menino and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, through the newly established National Main Street Center (currently Main Street America). Councilor Menino had learned about the Main Street Approach through his work in the Massachusetts legislature and strongly believed that this comprehensive, community-based approach to economic development would be effective in reviving one of Boston’s first streetcar suburbs. At the time, Roslindale suffered from disinvestment and a deteriorated building stock.
Two years prior, Councilor Menino worked with Roslindale community members to consider adopting the Main Street Approach, resulting in a partnership between merchants, owners, coalition groups, and the City of Boston with the goal of reversing the neighborhood’s current prospects by becoming the testing ground for the Trust’s Urban Demonstration Program.
Within its first three years–and through the community’s high level of commitment, dedication, and enthusiasm in organizing around the Main Street Approach–RVMS achieved great success in beginning the revitalization of Roslindale Village, with over $5 million in new investments consisting of 33 façade upgrades, 43 commercial building rehabilitations, 29 net new businesses, and 132 net job gains.
From the beginning, RVMS leaders were keenly focused on the building a strong foundation to ensure a bright future:
“It was really hard at first – we had long meetings every week. But with a lot of work, the organization came together. We are working with the city, residents, and merchants. We have a strong organization that’s looking toward the future.”
~ Greg Laham, a local pharmacist, in 1988.
From 1987 to 1994, RVMS leveraged their strong organizational foundation to shepherd transformative initiatives addressing residents’ concerns about the district’s appearance and accessibility. Despite experiencing economic losses due to a recession and losing staff after the demonstration funds expired in 1991, RVMS remained steadfast in fulfilling their mission.
In 1995, now Mayor Menino challenged the Trust to expand the Main Street Approach model across the City of Boston. The result: the formation of Boston Main Streets, the first urban, multi-commercial corridor district Main Street program in the United States. This expansion also included renewed operating support from the City of Boston to Roslindale Village Main Street. In the eight years that followed, an additional 19 Main Streets programs from across the city joined the network. Now in 2023, the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion brings training, financial, and technical assistance to 20 business districts.
Strong Leadership Fosters Catalyzing Developments and Resiliency in Unprecedented Times
In 2011, additional retailers joined the Roslindale Village district and RVMS hosted the inaugural Summer Stroll, solidifying the neighborhood as a destination for residents and visitors. Two years later, Edible Boston featured Roslindale as a “food destination” and RVMS launched shop local campaigns to encourage farmers’ market shoppers and residents to patronize Village businesses. RVMS also launched its first holiday pop-up show in a vacant storefront–a model that was picked up by other Boston Main Streets districts.
Also in 2013–the same year that the youngest district joined Boston Main Streets–an RVMS-led community planning process to redesign Adam’s Park to support year-round activation was completed and the historic, yet vacant, Substation building was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. These accomplishments complimented the opening of a new grocery store, Village Market, (1998) and ten new businesses (2002).
These successes in reimagining and activating public spaces are credited to the dedication of Roslindale’s strong leadership from within the Main Street program and volunteers who dedicated years of work to support revitalization efforts. In addition to taking an active role in advocating for the new Village Market grocery store, RVMS worked to reclaim and rehabilitate The Substation, which is now home to a co-working space, a beer hall, and many community events. RVMS’ volunteer-led committees are essential to promoting the district and its small businesses, community events, and farmers’ market.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, RVMS leveraged its strong partnerships to support the district’s small businesses. In 2020, the RVMS Small Business Mini-Grant Program provided $25,000 to Roslindale Village businesses impacted by the pandemic and hired a window artist to paint a series of pieces across 8 storefronts–many of which are still up today. Collaborations with the Mayor’s Office of Food Access and the Summer Eats Program supports both the economic vitality of their Summer and Winter Farmers’ Markets, but also promotes health and wellbeing to community members.
As RVMS moves beyond COVID-19 recovery efforts and into their 38th year of operations, they are focused on the future of the district. This work will be directed by the program’s new strategic plan, which they will begin implementing in the summer of 2023 and includes continued expansion across multiple goals such as making Roslindale as active during the week as it is on weekends, increasing the number of pedestrian-focused areas, and supporting a diverse network of businesses that meet the all the dining, shopping, recreation, and service-based needs of community members.
“From responding to emergencies to championing the economic vitality of our business and commercial districts, Roslindale Village Main Street and the 19 Boston Main Streets continue to preserve and honor our history, and the legacy of individuals and leaders who have impacted our communities. The resiliency of our neighborhoods are composed of many parts: the people, the community, and the businesses.”
~Aliesha Porcena, Director of Small Business, Mayor's Office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion at City of Boston
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.
Online registration and the regular rate are available through Friday, April 26. Download the conference mobile app, sign-up for the attendee webinar, grab some Shop Main Street merch, get recommendations, and more!
With just a little over a month to go until we convene in Birmingham, Alabama, for the 2024 Main Street Now Conference from May 6-8, we are excited to announce that the full schedule is available online and the mobile app is ready for download.
From budgets and staffing to programming priorities and the myriad of backgrounds that bring people to Main Street, the insights and key findings from this year's trends survey provide a snapshot of the state of the Main Street Movement.
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
With a specially priced registration rate of $199, tailored education track, free lunch & learn session, and abundant networking opportunities, Main Street Now 2024 is made for civic leaders passionate about community preservation and economic development in historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial corridors.
Opportunities to experience time-tested Main Street Approach techniques and creative solutions in action abound in Birmingham with these great excursions.
Starting in early 2024, we will engage in an intensive program assessment of MSAI. We look forward to bringing an enhanced Main Street professional development experience to the network later in the year.
Founded in 2003 and currently housed within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Main Street (MMS) recently celebrated 20 years of impact across 41 communities.
This three-week live, online course will prepare local leaders to more effectively work with small business owners in their districts and create an environment that is supportive of entrepreneurship.
We are excited to share a recent collaboration with Spark! Places of Innovation, a traveling exhibition curated by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program.
We are excited to welcome Jenice Contreras to the Main Street America Board of Directors. Jenice has a long record of leadership across community and economic development with deep experience with equitable growth, small-scale development, and cultural preservation.
Join Main Street America experts in Vancouver, Wash., to gain first-hand experience in harnessing transformation strategies to successfully revitalize your Main Street!
We are excited to announce that 862 Main Street programs across the country have earned Accredited status, Main Street America’s top level of recognition.
The MSARP credential is the highest level of achievement offered through the Main Street America Institute, requiring dedication to completing a rigorous curriculum of online courses, readings, assignments, workshops, and a challenging final exam.
Over the course of three days, nearly 1900 Main Streeters from near and far gathered for dynamic educational sessions, immersive mobile workshops, and network-building activities.
Check out our new shop featuring clothing and apparel, accessories, home and office goods, and kids’ and baby items inspired by the Main Street Movement.
Main Street America is proud to recognize John Bry, Program Coordinator at Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) in Michigan, as the 2023 Mary Means Leadership Award recipient.
We’re excited to announce a new suite of resources designed for Main Street! The Main Street Foundations Series provides an overview of each Point through four comprehensive introductory videos, one-page guides, materials from our resource center, and more.
From the ongoing pivots needed to meet changing community needs to the timeless power of place, these are the most popular blog posts we published this year.
At the Opening Plenary at the Main Street Now Conference in Richmond, Virginia, Patrice Frey shared lessons and reflections from her past nine years at Main Street.
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.
A series of small, incremental improvements, when taken together, provide momentum for long-term economic transformation and improved quality of life in a community.
The National Main Street Center, Inc. announced the 2017 Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA) during its annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The National Main Street Center and the Brookings Institution have jointly authored a response to Mr. Hyman’s piece, The Reality of Main Street, that is featured on Brookings’ blog.
Michigan Main Street Center was the first Coordinating Program to implement the new Main Street approach on a large scale. In this article, they share their robust process and valuable lessons.
Fritz the dog has made his way into the hearts of the residents of LaBelle, Florida, and helped our Main Street Community find a way to make what we do more noticeable.
Back in October 2015, we introduced the three key components of the refreshed Main Street Approach: inputs, outputs and Community Transformation Strategies.
For a lucky few downtowns, greatness may happen effortlessly with a strong sense of place that seems to develop organically and simply sustain itself. For most places, success doesn’t happen by chance.
While there have been over $1.2 billion in public and private investment in Wisconsin Main Street communities over the past 27 years, what really makes it special are the people and places that have been involved.
Although a “beach town,” Rehoboth Beach is open 365 days a year, and with that has the unique challenge of catering to both year-round residents and tourists within a wide range of ages, interests and economic levels
In communities across the country, hardworking business owners and buy local advocates come together to foster an organized effort to reinvent and revitalize Main Streets and downtown districts.
The National Main Street Center is pleased to announce that Cape Girardeau, Mo., Montclair Center, N.J., and Rawlins, Wyo. were selected as the 2015 Great American Main Street Award® (GAMSA) winners.