This summer, our Research team was joined by Jonathan Nerenberg as Main Street America’s Archetypes Intern. Jonathan led work looking into the archetypes of Mature Main Streets, Autocentric Main Streets, and Inactive Main Streets. 

At the conclusion of Jonathan’s time at Main Street America in late July, he joined Michael Powe, Ph.D., Senior Director of Research, to talk about the summer project. Their conversation touched on the findings of the project and how this research can help us support Main Streets across the network. 

Michael: To start, could you share a little bit about yourself and your background? What made this project one that you wanted to work on?

Jonathan: I grew up in South Bend, Indiana, and I just completed my undergraduate degree at Loyola University, Chicago, majoring in sociology and minoring in urban studies. I also took a lot of classes related to urban history, which I find really interesting. When I first saw this internship description, I was very excited because I thought that Main Street America, and this particular role, combined a lot of my interests.

Tell me about the project that you’ve been leading this summer. What were its goals? 

We came into this project with three main goals. The first was to identify the programs that fit into specific archetypes — places or programs that share certain characteristics that play a big role in shaping their experience, the challenges that they’re facing, and the approaches that they might need to solve those challenges. 

The second was to hear from the leaders of the programs to understand the challenges that their types of programs are facing. This was really exciting because it gave me the opportunity to directly interact with some of the people that are leading this kind of work and to hear their perspectives directly. 

The third goal was to create some recommendations based on our findings. This was my chance to make a mark on the Main Street Approach going forward and suggest the types of things that Main Street America should be focusing on in the future. 

You ended up landing on three different kinds of Main Streets for your analysis. Can you tell us about those categories?

I chose three categories: Mature Main Streets, Autocentric Main Streets, and Inactive Main Streets. 

Mature Main Streets are programs that are well established; they may have been part of the Main Street network for decades and have achieved a lot of success with the Main Street Approach. Success can also come with challenges, like rising housing costs in the community, gentrification, and rising commercial rents. The big question for these programs is: what’s next?

Autocentric Main Streets are those with challenges related to automobile traffic and roadway design. Often these districts contain a state highway within their district boundaries. Many of these programs are built on a very car-centric built environment, and it can be very difficult to turn that foundation into a place that welcomes pedestrians. I think the biggest challenge for these programs is the relationship with state departments of transportation.

Inactive Main Streets are programs that have been a Main Street America member in recent years but have dropped off the membership rolls in the past year or two. Talking to the leaders of these programs and learning from these programs can help us understand what Main Street America might need to do to serve these types of programs better.

How did you explore these archetypes? What were the methods you used?

First, we identified programs that fit into these groups using recommendations from Coordinating Programs and Main Street America’s membership database. We sent out surveys and received 22 responses from Mature programs, 16 responses from Autocentric programs, and unfortunately, only four responses to the Inactive survey.

Once the surveys were returned, the programs were invited to participate in focus groups to gather more information and open a dialogue between programs experiencing similar challenges. 

What struck you most about the local leaders themselves — the folks we talked to during the focus groups?

I was surprised by how engaged they were in making change in their communities and advocating for their programs’ needs. Everybody came to the focus groups with things that they wanted to talk about and with a lot of knowledge about their program, the challenges they’re facing, what they’ve been trying to do.

What were some of the major themes you took away from the analysis that you did? 

The first big takeaway was the need for grouping and peer learning. All of the participants were excited to be categorized in these way because it helped them think about the challenges that they are facing. I think this kind of peer networking is one of the most useful tools that that Main Street America can provide to these programs — showing that they’re not alone in these in these struggles and these challenges. 

I also learned that these challenges aren’t just challenges — they are also opportunities. For example, high vehicle traffic and wide roads can make walkability difficult, but it also brings a lot of potential customers into and through the district. If you can find a way to get people to stop their cars and to get out and to go into the businesses, there’s a huge customer base to tap into. 

Did anything jump out as a big surprise in your analysis?

I was surprised to find that every participant highlighted staffing needs in these local Main Street programs. There is a need for more funding to pay staff competitive salaries and offer competitive benefits to reduce turnover.

One idea that came up during this project is the difficulty of measuring certain metrics of success for Main Street programs. Could you say more about what we learned as far as these ideas go? 

Yes! I learned that some of the measures of success that Main Streets experience are not easy to measure. For example, the diversity of business ownership in the district. It can be difficult to quantify, but I think it’s definitely a goal that some of these programs should really be thinking about. 

Measures of displacement and gentrification can also be hard to measure. The Mature programs feel the pressures of gentrification and are starting to implement strategies to mitigate those pressures and to mitigate the effects of displacement. 

What do you think is going to stick in your mind a year from now or five years from now?

This research also opened my eyes to the role that smaller local organizations — these local Main Street programs — are playing in their communities. I was really struck by how engaged these directors were and how much they cared about their communities. Seeing how these local leaders are running their programs in these communities is definitely a really a cool model to have in my mind as I move forward. 

If you are interested in learning more about Jonathan’s project, you can view a slideshow detailing the research here. If you are interested in joining one of the ​“archetype” groups for future conversations, please email the Main Street America Research team at research@​mainstreet.​org.