The North Carolina Main Street and Rural Planning Center (NC MSRPC) has selected the City of Whiteville as the latest “North Carolina Main Street Community,” a designation earned by municipalities after meeting rigorous national downtown development criteria. The designation became effective July 1, 2021.

“Congratulations to the City of Whiteville on joining the ranks of our state’s Main Street Communities,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “We are excited to see a rural community in Southeastern North Carolina achieve this designation as it demonstrates their diligence and commitment to improving the economic well-being of their downtown district through the North Carolina Main Street program, which will ultimately benefit the entire city.”

Whiteville successfully completed NC MSRPC’s Downtown Associate Community program, which supports sustainable economic revitalization through strategic planning and organizational development.

Since 1980, the North Carolina Main Street program model has leveraged more than $3.62 billion in public and private investment, rehabilitated more than 6,932 buildings, and generated 28,405 net new jobs and 6,770 net new businesses. There are 67 designated Main Street communities in North Carolina.

The NC MSRPC at the Department of Commerce works with communities to create economic development strategies that transform downtowns through the Four-Point Approach®, a methodology for downtown revitalization developed by the National Main Street Center ®, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A program of the National Main Street Center®, Main Street America® has helped revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 40 years. Its national network now extends to over 1,600 neighborhoods and communities.

The NC MSPRC works in regions, counties, cities, towns, downtown districts, and in designated North Carolina Main Street communities to inspire placemaking through asset-based economic development strategies that achieve measurable results such as investment, business growth, and jobs. For more information about the N.C. Main Street & Rural Planning Center programming, visit the N.C. Main Street webpage.