About
Main Purpose
Main Street Greenwood is a non-profit organization which aims to create an atmosphere within the historic commercial district that both stimulates new growth and enhances the current commercial/residential population. Main Street believes that in the rehabilitation of historic downtown Greenwood will not only promote economic development, but also instill a sense of pride and place among the citizens of the community. Main Street Greenwood works together with other civic organizations to promote greenwood and all it has to offer.
Main Area
Greenwood has seven districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The 42-block Main Street District encompasses two of the seven historic areas: The Central Commercial & Railroad Historic Distirct, one of Mississippi’s most intact commercial centers of the 21st Century; and Cotton Row Historic District, comprised of over 50 buildings whose character has remained relatively unchanged since Greenwood became the state’s, if not the nation’s, major cotton market.
Main Approach
Main Street Greenwood operates on the same 4-Point Approach as the National Main Street Association.
1. Organization: involves getting eveyone working toward the same goal and assembling the appropriate human and financial resources to implement a Main Street revitalization program. A governing board and standing committees make up the fundamental organization structure of the volunteer-driven program.
2. Promotion: sells a positive image of the commercial district and encourages consumers and investors to live, work, shop, play and invest in the Main Street district. We do this by marketing a district’s unique characteristics to residents, investors, business owners, and visitors, through advertising, retail promotional activity, special events, and marketing campaigns, all carries out by local volunteers.
3. Design: means getting Main Street into top physical shape. An inviting atmosphere, created throught attractive window displays, parking areas, building improvements, street furniture, signs, sidewalks, street lights, and landscaping, conveys a positive visual message about the commercial district and what it has to offer.
4. Economic Restructuring: strengthens a community’s existing economic assets while expanding and diversifying its economic base. The Main Street program helps sharpen the competitiveness of existing business owners and recruits compatible new businesses and new economic uses to build a commercial district that responds to today’s consumers’ needs.