Oskaloosa Main Street Receives 2021 National Main Street Accreditation
Oskaloosa Main Street
(Oskaloosa, Iowa) – Oskaloosa Main Street has been designated as an accredited Main Street™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™.
“We are proud to recognize this year’s 889 nationally accredited Main Street programs that have worked tirelessly to advance economic vitality and quality of life in their downtowns and commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, President & CEO of Main Street America. “During an incredibly challenging year, these programs demonstrated the power of the Main Street movement to drive impressive local recovery efforts, champion small businesses, and foster vibrant downtown districts. I am inspired by their hard work and confident that these accredited communities will continue to help their downtowns flourish in the next stages of recovery.”
In 2020, Main Street America programs generated $4.14 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 4,356 net new businesses, generated 14,988 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 8,488 historic buildings, and clocked 983,702 volunteer hours.
Oskaloosa Main Street’s performance is annually evaluated by Main Street Iowa, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet 10 national performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building meaningful and sustainable revitalization programs and include standards such as, fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.
“We’re proud to be recognized for continuing to meet the standards of national accreditation,” says Jessica Reuter, Oskaloosa Main Street Director. “National accreditation lets us know that we’re on the right track. Main Street America and Main Street Iowa give us the model and support system for making downtown Oskaloosa a great place for locals and visitors.”
ABOUT OSKALOOSA MAIN STREET: The mission of Oskaloosa Main Street is to enhance downtown Oskaloosa as an attractive, unified, and economically sound commercial district by preserving the architectural heritage and communicating a positive image. Oskaloosa was first designated as a Main Street Community in 1986, making it one of the very first established programs in the state of Iowa. Oskaloosa Main Street is a proud part of the Mahaska Chamber.
ABOUT MAIN STREET AMERICA: Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for 40 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,600 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 $89.57 billion in new public and private investment, generated 687,321 net new jobs and 154,435 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 303,836 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit www.mainstreet.org.
