The Levelland Main Street Program 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 Texas 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.
This is Levelland’s 17th year of National Accreditation. The Levelland Main Street Program began in 1998 and over the course of the past 18 years the program has calculated over $8 million that has been reinvested back into the Main Street District in Levelland. The program’s success is due to dedicated volunteers that have spent over 1,700 hours working on projects, hosting events, and pouring their heart back into the community. “A National Accreditation for Levelland says that we’re doing things right here in Levelland. Our town is progressing and is so far ahead of the curve than so many towns around us. We have a great community and business network that supports the Main Street Program and the efforts being made to make Levelland better each day.” Michael Stueart, Chairman of the Main Street Advisory Board.
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.
(News release from the The Levelland Main Street Program)
