The N.C. Main Street Center has announced plans for a new community selection round. Pre-application workshops have been scheduled for 10 a.m.-noon in Morganton on June 26 and Clayton on June 27. Workshop attendance is mandatory for representatives from any community planning to submit a Main Street application in 2013, and participants must register for the workshop of their choice by June 21.
N.C. Main Street is a program of the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Office of Urban Development, which serves as the state’s leading resource in downtown revitalization. Based on economic development within the context of historic preservation, Main Street utilizes a downtown revitalization strategy developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that has proven successful in more than 1,400 smaller communities across the country. The N.C. Main Street program provides training, networking and technical assistance to participating communities, helping them to recognize and preserve their historic fabric, and, using local resources, build on their unique characteristics to create vibrant central business districts that meet today’s needs.
Main Street selection is open to small to medium-sized incorporated communities in North Carolina with a state-certified population of less than 50,000 that have an identifiable downtown business “core” and are neither current nor previously designated “Small Town Main Street” communities.