City of Renton Recognized as 2019 Main Street America Affiliate
The City of Renton has been designated as an affiliate Main Street America™ program by the National Main Street Center. Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of nationally recognized Main Street America affiliate programs in recognition of their commitment to generating positive change in their downtowns and commercial districts using the Main Street Approach™, a framework for comprehensive revitalization and preservation-based economic development.
“We are thrilled to recognize this year’s 288 Main Street America affiliate programs,” said Patrice Frey, President & CEO of the National Main Street Center. “These communities should be proud of their hard work to advance strong local economies, leverage local leadership, and improve quality of life in their communities. Main Streets are powerful engines for community transformation, and these Main Street America programs truly strengthen the economic, social, and cultural life of their towns.”
In 2018 alone, Main Street America programs generated $4.93 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 5,310 net new businesses, generated 25,301 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 8,146 historic buildings, and clocked 2.2 million volunteer hours
The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Renton Downtown Partnership, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that are committed to comprehensive revitalization and achieving meaningful community outcomes.
ABOUT THE RENTON DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP
The mission of the Renton Downtown Partnership (RDP) is to cultivate a vibrant social, cultural and economic center by bringing together the community, non-profits and city center stakeholders while celebrating the unique historic character of Renton’s Downtown.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL MAIN STREET CENTER
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 $79.12 billion in new public and private investment, generated 640,017 net new jobs and 143,613 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 284,936 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.