Santa Fe, NM - Seven New Mexico MainStreet communities have been designated as
National Main Street Accredited Communities for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Main Street Center®.
Nob Hill MainStreet, Artesia MainStreet, Carlsbad MainStreet, Clovis MainStreet, Grants MainStreet, Los Alamos MainStreet and Lovington MainStreet received accreditation and were recognized during the National Main Streets Conference in Atlanta.
"These high-performing New Mexico MainStreet communities are very much deserving of national accreditation for all their work in revitalizing our historic areas of commerce," said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela. "New Mexico MainStreet communities continue to make New Mexico an exceptional place to live and work."
Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street® programs in recognition of their exemplary commitment to historic preservation and community revitalization through the Main Street Four-Point Approach®.
"We congratulate this year's nationally accredited Main Street programs for their outstanding accomplishment in meeting the National Main Street Center's 10 Standards of Performance," said Patrice Frey, president & CEO of the National Main Street Center. "As the National Main Street Center celebrates its 35th Anniversary, it is also important to celebrate the achievements of the local Main Street programs across the country, some of whom have been around since the beginning. These local programs work hard every day to make their communities great places to work, live, play and visit while still preserving their historic character."
The organization's performance is annually evaluated by New Mexico MainStreet, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten 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 fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.
Since the New Mexico MainStreet program began in 1985: 11,400 net new jobs have been created in MainStreet Districts; more than 3,200 businesses have started up or relocated to MainStreet Districts; for every $1 taxpayers have invested in the state MainStreet program, the private sector has invested $44.50 locally in MainStreet Communities.
Established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980, the National Main Street Center helps communities of all sizes revitalize their older and historic commercial districts. Working in more than 2,000 downtowns and urban neighborhoods over the last 35 years, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $61.7 billion in new public and private investment. Participating communities have created 528,557 net new jobs and 120,510 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 251,838 buildings, leveraging an average of $26.52 in new investment for every dollar spent on their Main Street district revitalization efforts.