Bainbridge Main Street has been designated 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 coordinating program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street Programs that have built strong revitalization organizations that have demonstrated their ability to follow the Main Street methodology.

“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards,” said Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center, “Rebuilding a district’s economic health and maintaining that success requires broad-based community involvement and support, in addition to establishing a solid organization with sound management that is committed to long term success.”

The National Trust Main Street Center works in partnership with Coordinating Main Street Programs throughout the nation to identify the local programs that meet the National Trust’s 10 basic performance standards. These standards set the benchmarks 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.

The organization’s performance was evaluated by the State Office of Downtown Development, which is the coordinating organization for Main Street programs in Georgia.