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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – On April 29, representatives from Montevallo Main Street officially announced that they had achieved the status of being an accredited Main Street America program.

According to the program, that designation reflects Montevallo Main Street’s consistent achievement and signifies its meeting of rigorous performance standards set forth by Main Street America.

Each year, Main Street America and its partners release a list of designated programs that recognize, “exceptional commitment to preservation-base economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street approach.”

“We are incredibly excited to celebrate this year’s 800 accredited Main Street America programs, and their remarkable efforts to reenergize their local economies and public spaces,” Main Street America President and CEO Erin Barnes said. “Main Street leaders are visionaries that see things that no one else can see and create the future world we all want to live in. The size and impact of our network demonstrates that great things happen when visions are realized through strategic, grassroots collaboration.”

Montevallo Main Street in particular had its performance evaluated through a series of assessments conducted by Main Street’s personnel and board of directors, as well as Main Street Alabama, which works in tandem with Main Street America in the identification of local programs that meet the standards in community evaluation.

Those standards allow Main Street America to focus and evaluate progress, understand trends, recognize strengths and identify potential strategies that move Main Street programs forward.

To meet the standards for accredited status, communities must demonstrate a consistent ability to achieve outcomes in alignment with the Main Street approach and show exceptional performance in six categories.

Those categories are:

•  A broad-based community commitment to revitalization
•  Inclusive leadership and organizational capacity
•  Diversified funding and sustainable program operations
•  Strategy-driven programming
•  Preservation-based economic development
•  Demonstration of community impact and results.

“Last year, we welcomed seven net new businesses to the Main Street district,” said Courtney Bennett, executive director of Montevallo Main Street. “We hosted or supported twenty community events that brought people downtown and celebrated the arts. Montevallo is an unbeatable place to live or visit, and my wonderful volunteers and I are honored to be part of the Main Street magic.”

Montevallo Main Street continues to support a series of signature events such as Friday Nights and the Cove, Spring Fling Family Food Truck Fest and the Tinglewood Festival. The organization has also supported the creation of a new event, a Día de los Muertos celebration, which held its inaugural event last November. Montevallo Main Street further completed more than 40 work plans over the course of 2023 that covered all four points in the Main Street approach model.

“Accreditation is very important to us,” Bennett said. “We are proud of the impact our efforts are making on our community—you can absolutely tell the difference between how downtown is now versus before we joined Main Street in 2016. I’d also like to thank our dedicated volunteers for sharing over 2,200 hours of their time with us over the past year.”

Throughout 2023, programs by Main Street America generated $5.68 billion in local reinvestment and helped result in 6,630 new businesses opening their doors. Additionally, their involvement has resulted in the rehabilitation of 10,556 historic buildings and the creation of 35,162 new jobs bolstered by 1,664,763 volunteer hours.