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Transformation Strategies came out of the Main Street Refresh that the National Main Street Center did in 2015 and are now being integrated into their new accreditation standards, which will be rolling out in the near future.  The accreditation standards are a measure of a local Main Street program’s work and impact in their downtown district.  This assessment determines whether a local program receives the accredited designation. 

In 2015, the National Main Street Center created a Task Force of Main Street and downtown revitalization specialist who led what they called the Main Street Refresh, which looked at the Main Street Four Points to determine if they were still relevant since their creation in the late 1970s.  The results of the Refresh indicated that the Four Points are still very relevant to the Main Street Approach™, but the framework can be used in a more flexible way, allowing for a variety of organizational models.  It also noted that preservation still remains a focus, but additionally, the work of the Main Street program needs to be driven by an understanding of the market conditions both locally and regionally.  Community engagement is vital to the success and sustainability of any Main Street program including residents, district stakeholders, and key partners.  The last finding in the report pertains to the idea of Transformation Strategies and ties all of these things together.  The Task Force noted that “the direction of a Main Street program is guided by Transformation Strategies – economically-supportable statements around which the program develops its action plans.  Transformation Strategies incrementally create positive change in a district’s economy and are implemented through simultaneous activity across the Four Points.”  Another way of looking at Transformation Strategies is that they are economic strategies, which help guide and focus the work of the local Main Street program.  Main Street programs do not have unlimited resources so Transformation Strategies determine priorities for two to five years to get the highest return on their efforts. 

Transformation Strategies are being integrated into the new accreditation standards since the findings from the Refresh reinvigorate the Main Street Approach™. Transformation Strategies elevate the processes, strategic planning, and annual board planning sessions that Main Street has used to successfully revitalize their district by refining the rough edges.  We all have experienced planning sessions and meetings that have felt like an exercise in herding cats.   There are many forces pulling and pushing a Main Street board of directors.  This new Transformation Strategy focus provides guidance for the local program using community input, light market analysis, and some outside help and support.  In the pilot communities utilizing Transformation Strategies, the board of directors and executive directors liked the new process because it helped them focus the work of the committees but also allowed them to say NO to certain things because it did not fit into the current strategies. 

The development of Transformation Strategies is not rocket science, but the process of community input, analyzing market information, and looking at current conditions brings the necessary steps into focus for creating those impactful economic strategies to move the district forward for the next 2-5 years.