Join us for three days of learning, connecting, and celebrating at Main Street Now 2025 in Philadelphia, from April 7 – 9.
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Marion, Iowa © Tasha Sams
We work in collaboration with thousands of local partners and grassroots leaders across the nation who share our commitment to advancing shared prosperity, creating resilient economies, and improving quality of life.
Emporia, Kansas © Emporia Main Street
Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities, and urban commercial districts, the thousands of organizations, individuals, volunteers, and local leaders that make up Main Street America™ represent the broad diversity that makes this country so unique.
Chicago, Illinois © Main Street America
Looking for strategies and tools to support you in your work? Delve into the Main Street Resource Center and explore a wide range of resources including our extensive Knowledge Hub, professional development opportunities, field service offerings, advocacy support, and more!
Waterloo, Iowa © Main Street Waterloo
Your one-stop-shop for all the latest stories, news, events, and opportunities – including grants and funding programs – across Main Street.
Kendall Whittier — Tulsa, Oklahoma © Kendall Whittier Main Street
Join us in our work to advance shared prosperity, create strong economies, and improve quality of life in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
Through the Edward Jones Placemaking on Main Crowdfunding Challenge, the National Main Street Center and Edward Jones awarded 10 Main Street America programs $2,500 each in match funds to implement their lighter, quicker, cheaper-type placemaking projects. Selected participants worked closely with crowdfunding experts at ioby, engaging new partners, raising funds within their communities, and activating underused public spaces. Edward Jones generously supported the match funding, and the local Edward Jones financial advisors engaged directly in the projects’ implementation in a myriad of ways, including: onsite volunteering, advisory board membership, design committee participation, reception hosting, and sponsoring.
Washington Boulevard Gateway Project
Pigtown Main Street
Baltimore, Maryland
As a site of activation and gathering space for community input, the pop-up park will shape the design of the Washington Boulevard Gateway Project, a long-term major redesign of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and MLK to make it more pedestrian friendly, safer, and aesthetically pleasing.
M.I.L.E.S. - Mobile Interactive Literary Exhibition Space
Downtown Brattleboro Alliance
Brattleboro, Vermont
The Mobile Interactive Literary Exhibition Space (M.I.L.E.S.) is a mobile mini-museum that provides pop-up, street-level, ADA-accessible, immersive experiences highlighting the local literary legacies of the region. The first exhibit, features poet Lucy Terry Prince, demonstrating how words, and one person’s voice, can change the course of history and shape the future. This project is being led by a team of committed people and organizations, including: Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brooks Memorial Library, Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, and a local business owner. Launched as part of the annual Brattelboro Literary Festival, MILES will be the first project to launch the brand new three-year National Endowment for the Humanities backed program “Peoples, Places and History of the Word in Brattleboro”. Watch a video.
Maker Trail
Main Street Enid
Enid, Oklahoma
Main Street Enid is creating a Maker Trail through their downtown district, featuring themed stations on art, circuit, robotics, music, and more. In addition, the Maker Trail will create an additional draw for their First Friday events, bring more attention to the district, make more connections between businesses and residents, and encourage creative learning through discovering and making.
MainStreet of Fremont Greenspace Project
MainStreet of Fremont
Fremont, Nebraska
Created in partnership with building owners, business owners and the community, this greenspace pop-up park project uses formerly vacant land in Fremont’s historic downtown. This program is part of a larger strategy to create vibrant outdoor spaces and generate public awareness and involvement in the city’s future development. Events and activities for people of all ages will include: art shows, outdoor movie night, concerts, unique recreational experiences, and even potential social, ethnic, and cultural events.
The Mural Project at Ground Floor Farm
Ground Floor Farm in partnership with Stuart Main Street
Stuart, Florida
In Downtown Stuart, Florida, Ground Floor Farm, Stuart Main Street, and the Arts Council of Martin County are transforming their urban farm’s fence into a canvas for professional, amateur, and student artists to paint murals in a wide variety of styles and techniques. Taking inspiration from public art projects like Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, new murals will replace older ones as they fade, creating an ever-evolving street gallery made for repeat visits and viewings.
Build a Better Downtown Metuchen
Metuchen Downtown Alliance, Inc.
Metuchen, New Jersey
As part of a multi-building rehabilitation project, newly established Metuchen Main Street has created an outdoor patio space in a downtown parking lot, featuring seating, lighting, and programming for community members of all ages. Informed by input from a wide variety of local stakeholders, this public space aims to draw customers and support the four new businesses there by creating vitality on the street and sidewalks. This project will demonstrate a process for creating quick and low-cost improvements—which can be replicated throughout the downtown.
Art In The Alley
Main Street Van Wert
Van Wert, Ohio
Art in the Alley transforms a simple pedestrian alley into an open air art gallery and programmed public space, with picnic tables, games, and live music events in all seasons…even winter. Main Street Van Wert is bringing to life this crucial connector between their main street district and the community cultural hub, the Wassenberg Art Center, for all community members to gather in and enjoy. Launching this winter.
Wilson Artsy Alleys
City of Wilson
Wilson, North Carolina
Historic Downtown Wilson’s Artsy Alleys take the arts to new locations in forgotten places through four variously themed alleys link the community together, filling downtown with special small places in alleys and walkways and drawing visitors and locals alike to navigate through the entire district. Artsy Alley themes include: Tobacco Road: Painted Heritage Mural Alley, Golden Leaf Lane: Visual Arts and Sculpture, There and Back Again Lane: Literary Arts Mixed Media, and Tin Pan Alley: Musical Mosaic Tile Passageway.
Four phases to end by January 2018.
Chalk Park
Downtown Las Cruces Partnership
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Downtown Las Cruces Partnership and its Community Task Force for Family Activities are creating a downtown “Chalk Park”, featuring a welcoming area with benches, landscaping, and several black board stations with wooden frames where children and adults alike can create chalk masterpieces. Chalk Park will also serve as a wayfinding system: by placing Chalk Park in an underused callecita on the south end of the district, families will be encouraged to walk the entirety of Main Street, passing the downtown retail shops and restaurants on the way. Launching spring/summer 2018.
Downtown Hermiston Pocket Park
Downtown Hermiston District
Hermiston, Oregon
With its new pocket park activating vacant downtown lot, the Hermiston Downtown District is cultivating the downtown they envision - a more livable, lively, and connected place that offers new amenities, promotes economic growth, and demonstrates the spirit of entrepreneurship on Main Street. The courtyard currently solely functions as a walkway, so the Hermiston Downtown District will diversify its potential by adding seating and landscaping, creating a public, open, inviting space to socialize could encourage downtown visitors to stay longer and increase foot traffic.
We will be showcasing individual projects over the next few months—stay tuned!
Whether you're new to grant writing or seeking to sharpen your expertise, this four-part webinar series—presented in partnership with Grant Ready Kentucky—will provide you with the tools and insights needed to secure funding and drive your mission forward.
© skynesher/Getty Images Signature
The holidays are a great time to boost your fundraising efforts and meet your annual goals. Check out these tips for how to run a successful end-of-year fundraising drive.
Learn how Main Streets can tap into federal resources to improve transportation infrastructure, take down barriers, and improve access to key services.
Shop crawls are a great way to introduce people to your small businesses. Fredericksburg Main Street loves to host shop crawls, and this spring, they tried a new model: the flower crawl.
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure has many benefits for Main Streets. Learn how to apply for federal funding to support EV charging in your community.
American Express and Main Street America announced the 500 small business owners who have been awarded $10,000 through the Backing Small Businesses grant program.
Learn how the Safe Streets and Roads for All program is providing grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
Streetscape in Denison, Texas. © Mel Climer — Climer Design
T-Mobile announced its latest round of Hometown Grant recipients, with 275 communities across 46 states now part of the exclusive crew that will receive funding and support to fuel local projects that help people connect and innovate.
Meet the recipients of the 2024 round of GM on Main Street grants.
Learn how this organization is uplifting business owners and preventing displacement.
Charlotte, NC © Pixabay
Learn how you can participate in the Thriving Communities program as a capacity builder or how you can receive support from the program.
Learn how this Massachusetts community uses their farmer's market to increase access to fresh food.
Learn how the National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and the Clean Communities Accelerator Fund (CCIA) will pump billions of dollars into reducing carbon emissions from the built environment in the coming years.
Meet the newest recipients of the T-Mobile Hometown Grants, reaching a milestone of 200 towns impacted by the program.
Main Street America is leading a coalition urging that the EPA make available the GGRF funds for adaptive reuse and location-efficient projects because of the substantial greenhouse gas emissions reduction offered by such developments.
Learn about the Boston Main Street Foundation’s role in fostering powerful collaborations, and stay tuned for our final featured article in March.
In Fall 2022, MSA partnered with infill developer and small-deal guru Jim Heid and the Incremental Development Alliance to conduct surveys on the barriers to small-scale real estate projects across the United States. Here we share the results.
Creating a meaningful, place-based fundraising program is a great way to tap into the holiday giving season while centering your mission and values.
Main Street America launches a project to learn more about the specific barriers to small-scale real estate development on our Main Streets and identify solutions for financing small-scale deals.
Learn about Friendly City Fortune, Downtown Harrisonburg Renaissance's largest annual fundraiser. It provides flexible revenue for a variety of projects including art installations, façade enhancements, and small business support services.
Harrisonburg, VA © Downtown Harrisonburg Renaissance
learn how Rethos: Places Reimagined is encouraging upper-floor development through their program funded by the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant Program.
Red Wing, MN © Megan Tsui
The AARP Community Challenge program gives out quick-action grants to activate public spaces. Meet some of the Main Streets awarded grants through the program this year.
An exploration of microfinance as a tool that helps communities and small businesses thrive, while allowing money to be reinvested in local businesses and neighborhoods where it is needed most.
How do those amazing Main Street rehabilitation projects happen? And what policies and public support make them happen? In the Behind the Ribbon Cutting series, we look at a project or businesses from concept to opening day to break down the partnerships and funding brought to bear and recognize how we can advocate for policies and resources for revitalization across the country.
Astoria, OR © ADHDA
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
Thomasville, GA © Thomasville Main Street
The global pandemic gave us all a glimpse of a further dispersed future – a time when you don’t sit in a classroom at school, watch movies in a theater, or even go to the grocery store. Where do Main Streets fit in that model?
Community economic development leaders need to get creative with their fundraising plans, identifying and securing diverse funding sources from both inside and outside their community
San Francisco, CA © Bjorn Bakstad
These 67 recipients from across the country ranged from bakeries and boutiques to salons and museums, but they all shared a commitment to the program's goals of responding and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and helping to revitalize and strengthen older and historic downtown commercial districts.
Meet a recipient of the HartBeat of Main Street Grant Program
Learn how the Main Street Exchange Visits made people think in different ways, interact with peers, forge new relationships, and travel beyond the bounds of their own communities for inspiration.
Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) had the opportunity to take Missouri Executive Directors and other community representatives on the Iowa Community Expedition
Main Street America partnered with OneMain Financial to create Made on Main Street.
Small Business Saturday® is more than a day to shop. It’s a nationwide movement that shines a spotlight on the importance of supporting small businesses in communities across America.
The Downtown Newton Development Association (North Carolina) partnered with the City of Newton on a temporary tactical urbanism project to demonstrate how their permanent streetscape improvements will benefit downtown.
Over 500 people braved the misty rain this past weekend to come and celebrate Painesville and its Made on Main Street community transformation project.
In October 2017, Main Street Ottumwa collaborated with local partners, Main Street Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Better Block Foundation to stop planning, talking, and wishing, and start doing.
As part of the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta’s Grants to Green program, Maine was designated one of two national replication sites.
The Metuchen Downtown Alliance created a cool, family-friendly public gathering space in “the worst looking spot in town” with the help of just $2,500 in Edward Jones Placemaking on Main Challenge matching grant funds,
Small Business Saturday promo pic from Downtown Goldsboro, North Carolina, showing all the folks who took the pledge support a small business in their community.
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Main Street merchants in two communities in Michigan and Kentucky, as well as a fellow Texas Main Street community, jumped in to help their Texas colleagues.
Being the only person in the know can be fun, exhilarating even. Except when you are the one person out of 600+ in a room and you know bad news is coming.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
Main Street America is committed to helping build inclusive communities. Homelessness is an increasingly important issue facing Main Street communities big and small, urban and rural.
How one Wyoming Main Street implemented a free bike share program.
With 413 National Park areas¹ and over 1,000 Main Street America programs, it’s no surprise that many of the communities following the Four Point Approach serve as gateways to our national parks.
The local Main Street organization, Downtown Milford Inc., is trying to address these shifting demographics by creating a more inclusive sense of community.
Street Fairs are fun! Fundraising is not. Unless an individual or local business would like to underwrite the full cost of your Fair, consider the following eight tested fundraising programs.
Given these facts and others about year-end appeals, you should be planning a fundraising campaign during the six weeks of the year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.
Enter the aLABama Downtown Laboratory, a two-day event where participants work in sessions to study, analyze, and question experts on one area of the Main Street Four Point Approach®.
5 questions to understand how to tap into the motivations of your Main Street stakeholders to achieve what you (and they) want.
