Philadelphia Main Street becomes re-accredited
The Philadelphia Main Street organization was among 46 similar organizations across the state to be re-accredited by the National Main Street Center.
Philadelphia Main Street Director Tim Moore said that their organization has met the accreditation criteria since its founding in 2001. Moore said that that is due to an active community and engaged local businesses.
“Main Street receives the accreditation but it would not be possible without our community support and the participation of our local businesses,” Moore said.
The Mississippi Main Street Association currently has 50 active Main Street programs that include 44 Designated Community members and six Network Community members. Locally, Moore and his organization applies for grants and coordinates with businesses for the purpose of improving conditions for local businesses citywide.
MMSA Board President Steven Dick said that his staff evaluates each local Main Street organization’s performance annually and works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet the 10 performance standards.
“Receiving National Main Street accreditation is a prestigious designation and we congratulate each of these communities in Mississippi for this significant achievement," Dick said. "Main Street programs play a strategic role in making Mississippi more competitive by being a catalyst for economic development."
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.
Moore said that some criteria were lifted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The national organization has certain criteria and we did everything we needed to do,” Moore said. “There was some lenience due to COVID but we still had no problem reaching their criteria.”
Moore said examples of criteria included a certain number of hours of training he had to complete as well as demonstrating community involvement in Main Street projects.
In addition to Philadelphia, 38 Main Street associations received accreditation across the state, including neighboring Carthage/Leake County, Louisville/Noxapater and nearby Kosciusko.
The full list includes Aberdeen, Amory, Baldwyn, Batesville, Biloxi, Booneville, Byhalia, Cleveland, Clinton, Columbia, Columbus, Corinth, Greenville, Greenwood, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Hernando, Holly Springs, Indianola, Laurel, New Albany, Ocean Springs, Okolona, Pascagoula, Picayune, Pontotoc County, Ripley, Senatobia, Starkville, Tunica, Tupelo, Vicksburg, Water Valley, West Point and Woodville/Wilkinson County.
Also, eight Mississippi communities, including Meridian, were recognized among the Main Street America affiliate programs in recognition of their commitment to achieving meaningful improvements in downtowns and commercial districts across the country using the Main Street Approach. The other seven include Belhaven, Crystal Springs, Forest, Long Beach, Moss Point, Nettleton, and Saltillo.
The Main Street America network’s 2019 reinvestment statistics reported some of their best gains in ten years. Main Streets generated $6.45 billion in reinvestment in 2019—the network’s highest annual reinvestment amount since 2006, and the third-highest amount in history, according to NMSC.