Main Street Wilmington has been accredited as a 2008 National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards as set by the National Trust Main Street Center. Main Street Wilmington joins over 700 other Main Street revitalization programs being recognized as 2008 National Main Street Programs.

Each year, the National Trust Main Street Center and its coordinating program partners announce the list of accredited National Main Street Programs around the country that have demonstrated their ability to follow the Main Street methodology.

“We congratulate this year’s accredited National Main Street Programs for meeting our established performance standards,” says Doug Loescher, 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.”

“I credit the outstanding work of Main Street Wilmington’s director Steve Brown, in attaining this national accreditation,” said Mary Kay Vance, chairman of the Main Street Wilmington program and chairman of the Downtown Wilmington Community Improvement Corporation. “The Main Street program is continually growing and without the unwavering support of the city of Wilmington, our stakeholders and our community leaders and volunteers, we could not begin to achieve our many successes over these last years. The success of the downtown festivals throughout the year, along with the continued growth of the downtown merchant base, help renew interest in an active, healthy downtown.”

Contributing to the program’s success has been the conclusion of the $400,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development. This matching grant was instrumental in many of the improvements to downtown building facades and generated interest in improving and upgrading the downtown core.

“The promotions committee, chaired by Sandy Mongold, provides our community with activities and reasons the ‘bring feet to the streets’ of Wilmington,” said Vance. “The work of the economic restructuring committee, chaired by Debbie Stamper, is striving to bring the needed tools to our merchants and property-owners to help them maintain their downtown presence along with helping them with their long-term goals. Fund-raising and engaging our stakeholder base has been championed by the organization committee chaired by incoming chairman, Chris Schock and out-going chair Mark McKay. All these people are what make this program work, and without their passion, these successes would not be possible.”

The National Trust Main Street Center works in partnership with coordinating Main Street programs throughout the nation to identify the local programs that meet the National Trust Main Street Center’s 10 basic 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 that 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. For more information of the National Main Street Program accreditation, visit www.mainstreet.org/nationalprograms.

The Main Street Program thanks its members and volunteers for their time and effort. Those interested in joining the downtown revitalization efforts should contact the Main Street office at 283-9265 or visit www.mainstreetwilmington.com.