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Health & Fitness

Waterbury, Hartford, Simsbury Gain National "Main Street" Status

Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) has announced that three Connecticut Main Street designated organizations have been accredited as 2013 National Main Street Programs for meeting organizational performance standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center.  

Simsbury Main Street Partnership, Upper Albany Main Street (Hartford), and Main Street Waterbury
have been recognized for outstanding accomplishments toward the goal of revitalizing their historic main street districts following the Main Street methodology.   The announcement was made during the 2013 National Main Streets Conference in New Orleans.  

"We congratulate this year's accredited National Main Street Programs for meeting our established performance standards," said Valecia Crisafulli, Acting Director of the National Trust Main Street Center. "Rebuilding a district's economic health and maintaining that success requires broad-based community involvement and support, in addition to establishing a solid organization with sound management that is committed to long-term success."  

National Main Street Program Accreditation is a partnership between Connecticut Main Street Center and the National Trust Main Street Center to establish standards of performance for local Main Street programs. These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program's application of the Main Street Four-Point Approach to commercial district revitalization, which includes Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Restructuring.  

Evaluation criteria determine the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as development and commitment to mission, fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing a stable operating budget, tracking economic progress, and preserving and bringing back to life historic buildings. These standards provide benchmarks and guidelines on how Main Street organizations should be functioning and serve as incentives for improvement.  

Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) is a statewide nonprofit that inspires great Connecticut downtowns, Main Street by Main Street. Its mission is to be the champion and leading resource for vibrant and sustainable Main Streets as foundations for healthy communities.  

Since the Connecticut Main Street program began in 1995, designated Main Street programs have generated over $1 billion in public and private reinvestment in their downtowns. Over the same time, 425 net new businesses have opened and 2,538 net new jobs have been created.


There's more to the story at
http://ctbythenumbers.info/2013/04/14/waterbury-hartford-simsbury-achieve-national-main-street-recog...


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