Main Street Toccoa Receives 2014 National Main Street Accreditation

Main Street Toccoa has been designated as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Main Street Center®, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 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 performance standards,” says Patrice Frey, President & CEO of the National Main Street Center. “Accredited Main Street programs create vibrant communities by using a comprehensive strategy to preserve their historic character and revitalize their commercial districts, which helps make these great places to work, live, play and visit.”

The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Georgia Downtown Association, 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.

Main Street Toccoa’s mission is to improve Toccoa’s quality of life by strengthening the downtown district’s role as the community’s heart.  Toccoa Main Street was formed in 1990 to make the downtown district the economic and cultural center of the community.  The overall objective is to improve the viability and appearance of the downtown district and to stimulate the long-term reinvestment through business recruitment and retention, all within the context of historic preservation.

Over the past year, Main Street Toccoa has executed 20 downtown events, received Georgia Department of Economic Development grant funds, continued weekly communication with business owners, published the 4th Annual Main Street Directory, continued the historic plaque program with nine downtown buildings, and awarded seven façade grants.  One of the highlights of the façade grant program in 2013 was the façade renovation of Harper’s Row.  Future goals for Main Street are to continue developing the Schaefer Center as a downtown anchor, continue to sponsor events, publish the 5^th Annual Main Street Directory, continue to fund the Façade Grant Program for entire Main Street tax district, continue historic plaque program and identify and pursue new businesses.

“Main Street continually strives to strengthen the downtown’s role as the heart of Toccoa,” said Community Planning and Downtown Development Director Connie Tabor.  “We have been accredited by the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1999.  It is an honor to receive the award and we will continue to look ahead in the upcoming year for progressive opportunities in downtown preservation.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, works to save America’s historic places to enrich our future.  www.PreservationNation.org.  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 2,200 downtowns and urban neighborhoods over the last 34 years, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $59.6 billion in new public and private investment. Participating communities have created 502,728 net new jobs and 115,381 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 246,158 buildings, leveraging an average of $33.28 in new investment for every dollar spent on their Main Street district revitalization efforts.