GAINESVILLE, Ga. (June 2, 2021) – Main Street Gainesville has been designated as an accredited Main Street™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™.
“We are proud to recognize this year’s 889 nationally accredited Main Street programs that have worked tirelessly to advance economic vitality and quality of life in their downtowns and commercial districts,” said Main Street America President & CEO Patrice Frey. “During an incredibly challenging year, these programs demonstrated the power of the Main Street movement to drive impressive local recovery efforts, champion small businesses and foster vibrant downtown districts. I am inspired by their hard work and confident that these accredited communities will continue to help their downtowns flourish in the next stages of recovery.”
In 2020, Main Street America programs generated $4.14 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 4,356 net new businesses, generated 14,988 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 8,488 historic buildings and clocked 983,702 volunteer hours.
Main Street Gainesville’s performance is annually evaluated by Georgia Main Street Program, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet 10 national performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building meaningful and sustainable revitalization programs and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.
"We're honored to be a Main Street America and Georgia Main Street community," said Main Street Gainesville Manager Nicole Ricketts. "Seeing the resilience of so many entrepreneurs and small businesses, especially throughout this past year, was incredible. They truly are the heartbeat of our nation.”
ABOUT MAIN STREET GAINESVILLE
Main Street Gainesville is a division of the Gainesville Convention & Visitors Bureau that focuses on economic activity in historic downtown Gainesville. Gainesville has been a designated Georgia Main Street City since September 1995, and a National Main Street Center member since 1997. Main Street Gainesville is sanctioned by Main Street America and Georgia Main Street, and implements the standard Four-Point Approach used by Main Street programs all over the country: economic vitality, design, promotion and organization. To learn more about Main Street Gainesville, click here.
ABOUT MAIN STREET AMERICA
Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for 40 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $89.57 billion in new public and private investment, generated 687,321 net new jobs and 154,435 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 303,836 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit www.mainstreet.org.
