Main Spotlight: Breaking Barriers to Acquiring Commercial Properties
Creating real change in business ownership starts with local communities leading the way, backed by strong partnerships and collaborations.
Volunteers in Marion, Iowa, clean up debris following a derecho. © Uptown Marion
In honor of National Preparedness Month, Main Street America is proud to announce the release of the Main Street Disaster and Resilience Toolkit, a new resource to help Main Streets and commercial district organizations better prepare for and respond to more frequent and severe disasters.
Created in partnership with the National Park Service through the Main Street Community Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Program, this publication was informed by three years of study, listening to the needs of our network, and convening experts and stakeholders for a series of disaster planning and resiliency workshops and trainings.
Climate change and climate change-related disasters are an important and pressing issue: their impacts are harmful, accelerating, and disproportionately harm BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities. As of June 2024, 68% of designated Main Street districts are located within census tracts identified as climate vulnerable, and our research has found that 75% of the Main Street Network has experienced a major disaster in the past five years. We have an urgent need to understand local risks, create plans to mitigate their impacts, and respond to events as they occur.
“Climate change and climate-change related disasters are an important and urgent issue for Main Street America,” said President and CEO Erin Barnes. “We will continue to deepen our work in this space and support our communities in disaster preparation and recovery and planning for climate change.”
The Main Street Disaster and Resilience Toolkit is divided into three sections:
Part One: Plan, helps local leaders assess important baseline information for your organizations and communities to avoid duplicating past disaster planning efforts and, most importantly, to find a disaster planning process that suits your Main Street’s current planning needs.
Part Two: Prepare, provides steps you can take now to ensure your community will respond more effectively when a disaster occurs. This section also features activities and best practices on how to alleviate or mitigate future disaster damage and disruptions to Main Streets.
Part Three: Response and Recovery, explores the tools and strategies that communities can utilize following a natural disaster. This includes guidance on how to navigate the recovery process and how to address critical, longer-term rebuilding needs, such as repairing damaged historic resources, restoring small businesses, and renewing social connections.
Together, these resources provide small steps, incremental advice, and comprehensive guidance to help Main Streets plan, prepare, respond, and recover. Dive into the toolkit below to start building resiliency in your community.
Thank you to Main Street America staff, Manuel Ochoa, AICP, founder and principal of Ochoa Urban Collaborative, our NPS partners with the State, Tribal, Local, Plans, and Grants division, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Bayou Collective, California Main Street, Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Florida Division of Historical Resources, Louisiana Main Street, National Park Service, Oregon University’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, Texas Historical Commission, TheCaseMade, the Urban Land Institute, and all others who contributed to this project.
Volunteers help with flood recovery efforts in Montpelier, Vermont. © Katie Trautz, Montpelier Alive
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