Business & Tech

Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance Receives 2013 National Main Street Accreditation

The Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance has been recognized for building a strong revitalization organization to strengthen Gig Harbor's local economy and preserve historic buildings.

The Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance (formerly the Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront Association) 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.

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“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.”

The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Washington State Main Street Program, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten performance standards. These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program’s application of the Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial district revitalization.

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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.

GHDWA President Gary Glein indicated he is, “very pleased, as the accreditation is a valuable recognition of the hard work, commitment, and dedication of our board, staff, committees and many volunteers.”


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