North Carolina Department of Commerce

RALEIGH — Salisbury is among 47 North Carolina communities with an accredited Main Street America program.

Each year, the National Main Street Center and N.C. Commerce’s Main Street & Rural Planning Center partner to list accredited Main Street America programs, recognizing exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the “Main Street Approach.”

“The Main Street & Rural Planning Center expands our rural and small-town communities’ capacity to take on economic development and revitalization projects,” said N.C. Secretary of Commerce Anthony M. Copeland. “The communities accredited today have worked with the center to establish practices that will fuel their efforts to bring jobs and development to their towns.”

Each community’s performance is evaluated annually by the state’s Main Street staff in partnership with the National Main Street Center. The staff identifies local programs that meet 10 national performance standards.

Evaluation criteria determine the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.

“We are thrilled to honor this year’s 829 nationally accredited Main Street America programs for their commitment to preservation-based economic development and the revitalization of their commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, president and CEO of the National Main Street Center. “The power of Main Street shines across the country through these vibrant communities, who have all worked to generate impressive economic returns, preserve community character and celebrate local history.”

Other communities that achieved the accreditation in 2018 for work completed in the 2017 calendar year include Concord, Lexington and Statesville.

“We are proud of our communities that have worked hard to identify economic development strategies to transform their downtown districts through action within the framework of the Main Street Four-Point Approach of economic vitality, design, promotion and organization,” said Liz Parham, director of the N.C. Main Street & Rural Planning Center.

In fiscal year 2017, North Carolina Main Street programs generated $200 million in local public and private reinvestment, helped open 319 net new businesses, generated 2,000 net new jobs, supported the rehabilitation of 259 buildings and clocked 139,000 volunteer hours.

The North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center provides strategic planning and technical assistance, Main Street program guidance, training and education.

Main Street America has helped revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today, it is a national network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, that share a commitment to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.

Since 1980, North Carolina communities using the Main Street America model have leveraged more than $2.75 billion in public and private investment, generated 23,472 net new jobs and 5,883 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 6,000 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 about Main Street programs, visit www.nccommerce.com/MainStreet or contact Liz Parham of the N.C. Main Street & Rural Planning Center at 919-814-4658.