For Immediate
Release
Contact: Christian
Hamilton
706.898.5777
chamilton@cityoftoccoa.com
Main
Street Toccoa
Receives
2016 National Main Street
Accreditation
TOCCOA, GA, JUNE 27, 2016 – Main
Street Toccoa has been designated as an accredited Main Street America™
program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main
Street Center. Each year, the National Main Street Center and its Coordinating
Program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street America programs in recognition
of their exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and
community revitalization through the Main Street Approach®.
“Once again, we
are thrilled to recognize this year’s nationally accredited Main Street America
communities for their outstanding work,” says Patrice Frey, President & CEO
of the National Main Street Center. “We are experiencing an exciting era for
America’s cities and towns, with a growing recognition of the importance of
strong local enterprise, distinctive character, engaged residents, and sense of
place. These are things that Main Street America programs have been working to
protect and advance for years, strengthening the economic, social, and cultural
fabric of communities across the country.”
The
organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Georgia Main Street
Program, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to
identify the local programs that meet ten performance standards. 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.
In the past
year, Main Street Toccoa has hired two one employee, Mr. Christian Hamilton. It
has installed ten historic plaques and received multiple grant awards,
including an Historic Preservation Fund grant for phase I of an historic
resources survey and a grant from the Fox Theatre Institute for the
installation of an historically-inspired marquee for the former Ritz Theatre.
Main Street Toccoa has installed a new projector, screen, and aisle lighting
for the Ritz Theatre. It held 215 events downtown with a total attendance of
72,504. Regarding the importance of the 2016 National Main Street accreditation
and the successes of the program, Mrs. Connie Tabor, Community Development
Director and Main Street Manager said, “We are excited to receive the 2016
National Main Street accreditation. The program has been accredited for
seventeen (17) consecutive years. We will continue to strive for this
designation annually, as it signifies the importance of continued downtown
cultural renewal.”
The mission of
Main Street Toccoa, as emphasized by its achievements, is to improve Toccoa’s
quality of life and enjoyment of the arts by strengthening the downtown
district’s role as the heart of the community.
Main
Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial
districts for more than 35 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,000
neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to
place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic
development. Since 1980, communities participating in the program have
leveraged more than $65.6 billion in new public and private investment,
generated 556,960 net new jobs and 126,476 net new businesses, and
rehabilitated more than 260,000 buildings. Main Street America is a program of
the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust
for Historic Preservation.
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