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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.
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Kendall Whittier — Tulsa, Oklahoma © Kendall Whittier Main Street
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This article was published on January 10, 2023, by Next City, a nonprofit news organization focused on socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable urban practices. It was written by Patrice Frey, Senior Advisor to Main Street America, and Vincent Martinez, President and COO at Architecture 2030.
Recently I heard a podcast interview with Will MacAskill, the philosopher and author of the recent book “What we Owe the Future.” In the interview, Will MacAskill was asked something to the effect of “what will folks in the future think we got wrong?”
I wonder if future generations of Americans will look around at our built environment and think that we really messed up. Each year, we tear down more than a billion square feet of built space, and we’ve abandoned as many as 19 million buildings across the country. And yet we build 4-6 million square feet of new buildings every year. And, of course, the quality of what we construct today…well, that’s the subject of another blog post.
That cycle of destroy-rebuild is taking a toll on the planet because the building industry is responsible for about 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As my colleague Vince Martinez, President & COO of Architecture 2030, and I argue in an Op-Ed recently published in Next City, reusing and retrofitting our existing building stock will be vital to staving off the worst impacts of climate change.
The relationship between climate and our built environment is part of what motivates my work on Main Street America’s Small Deal Initiative. There are so many good reasons to put old buildings back into productive use – the climate, preserving history, economic development, and enhancing quality of life… to name just a few. But there are still far too many barriers to rehabilitating buildings, especially in communities of color and disinvested rural places.
Vince and I argue that we must develop new financing strategies to support adaptive reuse projects. “Allowing new federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds to support building reuse and retrofits, the improvement and expansion of historic tax credits, and making permanent the New Markets Tax Credit program are among the many policy advancements needed to help better leverage our existing built assets in the climate fight.”
We also need to find new sources of capital for these projects – that’s a key focus of my work through the Small Deal Initiative. These past few months, I’ve been working to explore different pathways to support small deals, and I’m heartened that several channels offer promise. I look forward to sharing the fruits of this research with you early in the New Year.
Understanding the Advisory Council on Historic Preservations report on federal historic preservation standards.
Toccoa, GA © Steph Maley
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.
Learn how Albany, Georgia, recognizes their civil rights legacy and supports the African American community today.
Kathy LaPlante shares her experiences visiting Vermont communities during their recovery from devastating floods.
© Tripp Muldrow
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.
© Adog
Learn the historic and cultural significance of neon signs, and strategies that Main Streets can use to preserve these unique assets.
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.
On May 9, the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2023 which included a cultural district located within a designated Main Street America community.
Miami, FL © NTHP
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
Learn the unique history of Folsom, New Mexico, and how they are working with New Mexico MainStreet today.
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.
© Rethos
Four recommendations that Main Street districts can apply right now to start preparing for the next natural disaster.
Learn how Main Streets can partner with the National Trust Community Investment Corporation to take advantage of the Historic Tax Credit.
© Troy Thies
Ed McMahon shares recommendations and insights on how Main Streets can use sign design to improve sense of place on Main Streets.
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.
Learn about The Bottom, a historic African-American community in Thomasville, Georgia, and efforts to preserve it's history and share it's story.
Thomasville, GA © City of Thomasville
New Mexico MainStreet partnered with Main Street America to utilize a NPS Main Street Facade Improvement Grant.
Gallup, NM © New Mexico MainStreet
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.
Astoria, OR © ADHDA
Main Street America's GIS intern shares the results of a project to map the boundaries of all designated Main Street districts.
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.
Main Street America welcomed to our Instagram Stories the Allapattah Collaborative CDC, a Main Street program in Miami, Florida.
Miami, FL © Allapattah Collaborative CDC
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.
Thomasville, GA © Thomasville Main Street
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.
Eight historic downtowns in Vermont turned massive flooding into opportunities to build back stronger than before the flood.
As living pieces of American history, our Main Street communities each have a story to tell. It’s up to us to bring those stories to life.
The economic value of historic preservation on Main Street.
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.
