Main Street Receives National Honor

Douglasville has received its 2011 designation as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center each year. 

The National Trust and its partners announced the list of accredited Main Street" programs that have built strong revitalization organizations and demonstrated their ability in using the Main street Four-Point Approach methodology for strengthening their local economy and protecting their historic buildings.  

"We congratulate this year's nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards," says Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center. 

"Accredited," Main Street programs are meeting the challenges of the recession head on and are successfully using a focused, comprehensive revitalization strategy to keep their communities vibrant and sustainable."  

The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, which works in partnership with the National Trust Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards. 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.

Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as developing a mission, fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking economic progress, and preserving historic buildings.  

Said Stephanie Aylworth, Douglasville’s Main Street manager, “One of my duties as Main Street Manager is to report monthly to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs on our downtown statistics, projects, and programming.

"I am pleased to report that despite the difficult economy, the downtown has managed to maintain an 89 percent occupancy rate this program year. This is a significant number compared to other areas of the city and state.  And this number is on the rise with the addition of several new businesses and historic renovations currently in progress.” 

If you are interested in learning more about Douglasville’s Main Street Program, relocating your business to the downtown, or getting more information about downtown service area incentives contact the Main Street manager at 678-715-6092 or mainstreet@ci.douglasville.ga.us.