Cleveland, TN–  Mainstreet Cleveland has been designated as an Accredited Main Street America™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of Accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™.

The 2024 network of designated Main Street members includes 800 programs that earned Accredited status — the top designation tier — for demonstrating a proven track record of achieving outcomes in alignment with the Main Street Approach and exceptional performance in the six standards of community evaluation.

In 2023, Main Street America programs generated $5.68 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 6,630 net new businesses, facilitated the creation of 35,162 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 10,556 historic buildings, and leveraged 1,664,763 volunteer hours. On average, for every dollar that a Main Street program spent to support their operations, $18.03 of new investment was generated back into their downtown and commercial corridor communities.* Learn more about the collective impact of the Main Street Movement here.

​“We are incredibly excited to celebrate this year’s 800 Accredited Main Street America programs, and their remarkable efforts to reenergize their local economies and public spaces,” said Main Street America President and CEO Erin Barnes. ​“Main Street leaders are visionaries that see things that no one else can see and create the future world we all want to live in. The size and impact of our network demonstrates that great things happen when visions are realized through strategic, grassroots collaboration.” 

Mainstreet Cleveland’s performance was evaluated through assessments conducted by the organization’s personnel and board of directors, and the Tennessee Main Street Program, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify local programs that meet rigorous national community evaluation standards. These standards provide the Main Street America network with a strong foundational framework to review progress, recognize strengths, understand trends, and identify strategies that move Main Street programs forward.

To quality for designation communities must demonstrate a strong commitment to the Main Street model, meet a set of baseline requirements, and achieve outcomes in six areas: broad-based community commitment to revitalization; inclusive leadership and organizational capacity; diversified funding and sustainable program operations; strategy-driven programming; preservation-based economic development; and demonstrated impact and results.   

On the local level, in 2023 private investment in downtown properties was over $2.75 million on building rehabilitation and improvements, and $1.2 million in public investment for a total of $3.95 million.  15 new businesses opened downtown creating 85 jobs.  Volunteer hours totaled 3,895.