Revitalizing rural Main Street means cultivating from within, seeking outside planning resources and 'shared vision'

Image from Main Street America

Picture a small-town Main Street with bustling local businesses. Shoppers line up at The Ugly Mug, a locally run coffee shop with attitude. . . . This scene could be the beginning of a town's revitalization dream. "A new program seeks to change the economic development narrative in rural and small-town Main Streets," Kristi Eaton of The Daily Yonder reports. "Main Street America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recently announced the 10 organizations that were selected for the Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Main Streets Program. Nine states and Puerto Rico were selected." Main Street America offers a self-guided training for communities that are looking at developing their plan.

While many smaller towns seek to bring in new businesses from the outside, "Matt Wagner, chief program officer for Main Street America, noted that research from a survey of nearly 2,500 small business owners in August 2020, showed that 70% of the small businesses were started by people that already lived in those communities," Eaton reports. Wagner told her, "They weren't recruited or asked to move a business there. . . . And this wasn't just for retail, restaurants and service businesses – 92% of small scale producers and 57% of businesses with more than 20 employees were started by locals. We need to cultivate the talent that already lives in our rural communities."

 

Wagner told Eaton, "Post this workshop, we will be working with each of our Main Street state coordinators to then select three rural Main Street communities that will be part of a more in-depth cohort group, each receiving in-community and virtual services, professional development opportunities and peer-to-peer learning exchanges." Eaton reports the group is "working with the Kauffman Foundation on the program, which will include a one-day workshop in each of the 10 participant areas. Those workshops will be open to any rural community to attend, Wagner said."

 

Breanne Durham, the Washington state Main Street director and one of the programs selected, told Eaton that sees a wide range of experiences in rural Main Street communities. She said, "Some communities that have been 'successfully revitalizing' their districts for years or decades now face challenges related to housing, affordability and over-tourism. . . Others struggle to find enough volunteers and funding to even start a Main Street initiative. . . . Some communities have populations that are growing rapidly while others are dwindling. . . . .The keys to success regardless of the challenges faced are having strong partnerships in place and a shared vision for the future of their unique community."