Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin honored
Submitted by DNA of Elgin
The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin has been designated as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street programs that have built strong revitalization organizations and demonstrate their ability in using the Main Street Four Point Approach methodology for strengthening their local economy and protecting their historic buildings.
“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards,” says Valecia Crisafulli, acting director of the National Main Street Center.
“Accredited Main Street programs are meeting the challenges of the downtown in the economy head on and are successfully using a focused, comprehensive revitalization strategy to keep their communities vibrant and sustainable.”
Downtown Elgin’s reinvestment statistics for 2012 included more than $2 million in commercial and residential real estate transactions and more than $800,000 in commercial rehabilitation. More than 25 new businesses opened their doors in downtown Elgin during 2012, creating approximately 70 full-time jobs and 50 part-time jobs.
DNA volunteers invested more than 3,000 hours into the downtown community at an estimated economic impact of over $65,000 in 2012. The new Elgin Artspace Lofts, which were completed in 2012, significantly expanded downtown’s residential base with 55 live-work units for artists and their families.
The DNA’s performance is annually evaluated by Illinois Main Street, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards. These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual program’s application of the Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial district revitalization.
Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as developing a mission, fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking economic progress, and preserving historic buildings.
DNA is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization focused on enhancing the economic vitality of downtown Elgin through promotions, special events, economic development and historic preservation. It is celebrating 15 years of downtown Elgin revitalization in 2013 with a new “Buy Local” campaign. Visit www.DowntownElgin.com.
Established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980, the National Main Street Center helps communities of all sizes revitalize their older and historic commercial districts. Working in more than 2,200 downtowns and urban neighborhoods over the last 32 years, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $55.7 billion in new public and private investment.
Participating communities have created 473,535 new jobs and 109,693 new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 236,418 buildings, leveraging an average of $18 in new investment for every dollar spent on their Main Street district revitalization efforts.