Greater Lafayette Commerce Receives 2010 National Trust Main Street Accreditation
Greater Lafayette Commerce has been designated as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center. Each year, the National Trust and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street ® programs that have built strong revitalization organizations and demonstrate their ability in using the Main Street Four-Point Approach ® methodology for strengthening their local economy and protecting their historic buildings.
“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards,” says Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center. “Accredited Main Street programs are meeting the challenges of the recession head on and are successfully using a focused, comprehensive revitalization strategy to keep their communities vibrant and sustainable.”
The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Indiana Main Street program, which works in partnership with the National Trust Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards. These standards set the benchmark 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 developing a mission, fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking economic progress and preserving historic buildings. For more information on the national program accreditation program, visit www.mainstreet.org/nationalprograms.
“Main Street accreditation is an important affirmation for the Cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette that we are not only fulfilling the four point plan and following Main Street principles but we are tangibly and visibly revitalizing downtown and raising the quality of life for the community,” says Dennis Carson, Director of Redevelopment for the City of Lafayette.
Dedicated to ensuring the vitality of downtown, the Downtown Development Council, part of Greater Lafayette Commerce, works to improve the business development climate, investments, job creation and neighborhood vitality. Headquartered at 337 Columbia Street in Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Commerce, whose roots go back more than 80 years, is a nonprofit membership organization supported by local industries and governments. Its mission is to advance economic and community prosperity for a superior quality of life.
For more information or to find out how you can impact Main Street, visit www.GreaterLafayetteCommerce.com.
The National Trust for Historic preservation (www.PreservationNation.org) is a nonprofit membership organization bringing people together to people together to project, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history – and the important moments of daily life – take place, the National Trust for
Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., eight regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories.
Established in 1980, the National Trust 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 30 years, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $48.9 billion in new public and private investment. Participating communities have created 417,919 new jobs and 94,176 new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 214,263 new buildings, leveraging an average of $27 in new investment for every dollar spent on their Main Street district revitalization efforts.
