The Centralia Downtown Association (CDA) on Tuesday announced it has been selected as one of 30 communities to participate in Main Street America’s Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Communities pilot program.
Main Street America is seeking to work with rural communities to identify barriers preventing entrepreneurs from starting or growing a local business along with developing solutions to address those barriers.
Pilot program members, including the CDA, will receive a $5,000 seed grant along with an extra $1,500 to help the community achieve a professional development certification from the International Economic Development Council. Additional funding opportunities will arise as the pilot program expands.
"This exciting opportunity symbolizes a powerful commitment to foster inclusive growth and empower our local entrepreneurs,” CDA Executive Director MacKenzie McGee said in a news release. “With this grant, we look forward to revitalizing downtown Centralia, creating a thriving ecosystem that supports diverse businesses, and ensuring economic resilience for years to come. This is a significant milestone for our community, and we are excited to embark on this journey towards a more equitable and vibrant future together."
Members of Main Street America will visit Centralia in-person to work with the CDA and provide support to implement entrepreneurial ecosystem building practices in a “train-the-trainer” process.
“Holistic, place-based, equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems offer a promising path forward for rural communities that need new local businesses to open and old businesses to thrive, “ Main Street America’s Chief Program Officer Matt Wagner said in the release. “However, much of the current work on equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem development nationally is focused on large cities. There is a need to deliver these services to rural communities, and Main Street America is uniquely positioned to address that need in partnership with its coordinating programs.”
The CDA will also be collecting feedback from local business owners through an anonymous survey over the next few months to help develop a better support network for Centralia’s entrepreneurs, though the survey has yet to be released.
Part of the Main Street America’s Main Street movement, the CDA is a nonprofit committed to strengthening the Centralia community through economic development while focusing on the downtown’s historic preservation. To learn more, visit https://downtowncentralia.org/.
Established in 1980 as a program in the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street America became an independent subsidiary of the National Trust in 2013 and is a nonprofit working with over 2,000 communities nationwide to restore economic vitality to downtown areas while celebrating and preserving the communities’ historic character, according to its website. For more information on Main Street America, visit https://www.mainstreet.org/home.
The International Economic Development Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization — with over 4,500 members — serving cities, counties, states, public-private partnerships and chambers of commerce to promote economic well-being and quality of life for communities through economic development according to its website. To learn more, visit https://www.iedconline.org/.
