Atmore, along with several other communities in the southern Alabama region, will be joining together to begin work toward becoming a part of the Main Street Alabama Program.
The communities of Atmore, Brewton, Butler, Evergreen, Grove Hill, Jackson and Thomasville will join Monroeville in becoming Downtown Network Communities of Main Street Alabama.
“The program focuses on organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring,” according to the Main Street organization.
The program is coming to the smaller communities in the region because of a partnership between Coastal Gateway Regional Economic Development Alliance and Alabama Power, which has provided a generous grant to fund the program.
Main Street Alabama is the state-coordinating program for downtown revitalization, while Coastal Gateway Regional Economic Development Alliance is a partnership of Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, and Monroe counties in southwest Alabama as well as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
The Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce will assist in coordinating the program locally.
“We are excited to be a part of this program,” Chamber Executive Director Sheryl Vickery said. “We hope to begin work on the program as soon as the beginning of March.”
In addition to individual Main Street Alabama visits to each community, Coastal Gateway will host two regional workshops annually, one in the spring and one in the fall. Main Street Alabama will provide training in the morning followed by a sharing of best practices, first by Monroeville, as the region’s first Designated Main Street Community, and then by each of the seven Regional Downtown Network communities.
“We are particularly excited about our growth in the Coastal Gateway region,” said Mary Helmer, President and State Coordinator of Main Street Alabama. “Main Street programs have a catalytic effect and the establishment of Monroeville’s designated program just nine months ago has yielded tremendous interest from these surrounding communities. The leadership of the Coastal Gateway Economic Development Alliance recognized the opportunity to grow revitalization programs in the area, coordinated the community efforts and secured funding to make this regional program a reality. We anticipate the leadership from this organization will be emulated to grow other regional programs.”
