Cornelia Main Street has once again been designated as an accredited Main Street America. The program announced it accreditation today after meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center.
Cornelia is one of 840 nationally accredited Main Street America programs across the U.S.
“These programs deserve recognition for generating impressive economic returns, preserving community character, and celebrating local history,” says President & CEO of the National Main Street Center Patrice Frey.
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.
Cornelia Main Street’s performance is annually evaluated by Georgia Main Street of the Georgia Office of Downtown Development. The department works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify local programs that meet ten national performance standards. Programs are evaluated based on their ability to build comprehensive, sustainable revitalization efforts. Standards include fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.
In fiscal year 2018, Cornelia Main Street had $1.3 million in real estate transactions, 226 promotional events yielding 56,500 attendance, seven new businesses, 72 jobs, and $7,134,013 in public private investment.
“The National Main Street program is imperative to the success of Cornelia’s Downtown Development Authority,” says Cornelia Community Development Manager Jessie Owensby. “It gives us a strategic plan template that makes it easier for us to plan and execute our projects as a team.” Owensby calls the accreditation criteria “thorough” and says Cornelia strives each year to exceed it. “We have been able to achieve that each of the years that we’ve been accredited. I am incredibly proud of the Cornelia DDA for accomplishing this feat, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for our community!,” she says.
