Blog

November 4, 2009

Scranton Tomorrow Kicks Off Main Street Initiative

Scranton Tomorrow launched the new Main Street Scranton Initiative last month.  Over 50 local business leaders will begin to set the course for this volunteer driven effort for the continued revitalization of downtown Scranton.  The Main Street Program is a comprehensive downtown development program, and will provide for anchor building and façade improvement grants, and downtown reinvestment programs, all of which are essential elements for the revitalization and reinvigoration of Downtown Scranton.

The mission is to establish Main Street Scranton as a driving force in fostering and supporting economic revitalization utilizing a five point approach including organization, design, economic restructuring, promotion and safe, clean and green.  This will be accomplished by the cooperative efforts of key volunteers representing all stakeholders in downtown Scranton their efforts will serve to position and sustain downtown Scranton as the premier urban center in Northeast Pennsylvania.

The Main Street economic development model has earned national recognition as a practical economic development strategy appropriately scaled to a community’s local resources and conditions. And because it is a locally driven program, all initiatives stem from local issues and concerns.

The Main Street approach has been successfully employed in more than 1600 communities across the United States. In its 20-year life, the grass roots program has generated a public and private reinvestment of $15.2 billion, an average reinvestment per community of $9,302,000. In the same time period, the program has generated a net of 52,000 new businesses and 206,000 new jobs in participating communities. The program also served to facilitate the rehabilitation of 79,000 buildings.

Scranton Tomorrow is a nonprofit community & economic development organization working to establish Scranton as the premier urban center of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The organization’s other projects include Artspace Scranton, Scranton Business Alliance, City Pride and the Scranton Riverfront Partnership.  For additional information about the Main Street Scranton Initiative, contact Lisa Sauder at 570-963-7576 or email lisa@scrantontomorrow.org.