Downtown Whitewater, Inc. 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.
“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for their outstanding accomplishment in meeting the National Main Street Center’s 10 Standards of Performance,” Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center said. “As the National Main Street Center celebrates its 35th Anniversary, it is also important to celebrate the achievements of the local Main Street programs across the country. These local programs work hard every day to make their communities great places to work, live, play and visit while still preserving their historic character.”
Downtown Whitewater’s performance is evaluated annually by the Wisconsin Main Street Program, an organization housed in the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation that works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.
“Downtown Whitewater, Inc. is alive and well and now approaching its ten year anniversary. As a committee member and board member, I’ve seen the work of the organization go from an early focus on renovation of storefronts using matching grants, which was very visible and exciting, to the much-less-glamorous, but vitally important stage of sustaining and restructuring the economics of the downtown,” past DTWW secretary, Roni Telfer said. “This shift has required some rethinking about what a thriving downtown is and what it looks like, significant for the organization, but more importantly for the viability of a thriving downtown that values its historic past while embracing its exciting present and future.”
