The City of Bradford’s Main Street program has been designated as an accredited Main Street America™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center.
Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street America programs to recognize their exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach.
“We are proud to acknowledge this year’s 840 nationally accredited Main Street America programs that have worked tirelessly to strengthen their communities,” said Patrice Frey, president & CEO of the National Main Street Center.
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 Bradford Main Street’s performance is annually evaluated by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten national performance standards.
“We have some wonderful businesses located within our city’s historic district,” said Community/Economic Development Manager and Main Street Manager, Anita Dolan. “We are also fortunate to have some building owners who are making significant investments in the buildings.
These are not easy times for brick and mortar businesses, especially in rural Pennsylvania, but we, as a Main Street program, work very hard using the Main Street Four Point Approach to promote and improve our downtown business district.”
Since Bradford’s Main Street program began, its façade improvement program has received approximately $367,000 in grant funding from the state.
That funding has leveraged more than $1,000,000.00 in exterior building improvements to downtown buildings.
The Main Street program is gearing up for a very busy 2019. Construction for Phase I of a multi-phased streetscape improvement project will begin soon. Phase II is scheduled for 2020.
