Kent Downtown Partnership receives 2016 National Main Street accreditation

For the Reporter

Kent Downtown Partnership has been designated as an accredited Main Street America program for meeting performance standards set by the National Main Street Center.

Each year, the National Main Street Center and its coordinating program partners announce the accredited Main Street America programs in recognition of their commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach.

“We are experiencing an exciting era for America’s cities and towns, with a growing recognition of the importance of strong local enterprise, distinctive character, engaged residents and sense of place,” said Patrice Frey, president and chief executive officer of the National Main Street Center, in a media release. “These are things that Main Street America programs have been working to protect and advance for years, strengthening the economic, social, and cultural fabric of communities across the country.”

Each organization’s performance is annually evaluated by Washington State’s Main Street Program, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify local programs that meet ten 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.

KDP has worked hard to not only to create an atmosphere that encourages people to want to come to Kent’s historic downtown but to provide them reasons to come downtown through multiple events, according to Barbara Smith, KDP’s executive director. KDP is proud of the growth in downtown Kent in the last two years, including the addition of two apartment buildings and several new businesses, Smith said.

Main Street America, a program of the National Main Street Center, has helped revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. It is a network of more than 1,000 neighborhoods and communities – rural and urban – that share a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $65.6 billion in new public and private investment, generated 556,960 new jobs and 126,476 new businesses and rehabilitated more than 260,000 buildings.