Main Street Toccoa Receives 2016 National Main Street Accreditation

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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