The New Mexico MainStreet team, MainStreet Futures Committee, Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation Board members and County Councilors gather for the state Los Alamos MainStreet Accreditation visit Dec. 11 in the conference room of 130 Central Park Square. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District News:

Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District has been designated as a 2025 Accredited Main Street America program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of designated programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™.

Main Street America recognizes two tiers of national designation — Affiliate and Accredited. These designations are a powerful advocacy tool, signaling to local stakeholders, as well as city, state, and national funders, that a Main Street program has an established position within a nationwide movement with a 45-year proven track record of generating impressive economic returns, building local capacity, creating welcoming and inviting communities, and creating lasting impact.

“Main Street America is proud to recognize this year’s 821 Accredited Main Street America programs for their commitment to building strong and vibrant communities,” President and CEO Erin Barnes of Main Street America said. “Their tireless efforts show what’s possible when engaged leaders work together to shape places that reflect the people they serve. The continued impact of our network shows that the Main Street movement remains a powerful force for positive transformation.”

Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District’s performance was evaluated through assessments conducted by the organization’s personnel and board of directors, and New Mexico MainStreet, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify local programs that meet the national community evaluation standards.

These standards provide the Main Street America network with a strong foundational framework to review progress, recognize strengths, understand trends, and identify strategies that move Main Street programs forward.

To qualify for Accredited status—Main Street America’s top designation tier—communities must demonstrate a proven track record of achieving outcomes in alignment with the Main Street Approach and exceptional performance in six areas:

• Broad-based community commitment to revitalization;
• Inclusive leadership and organizational capacity;
• Diversified funding and sustainable program operations;
• Strategy-driven programming;
• Preservation-based economic development; and
• Demonstrated impact and results.

In 2024, Main Street America programs generated $7.65 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 6,324 new businesses, facilitated the creation of 33,835 new jobs, rehabilitated 10,126 historic buildings, and logged 1.9 million volunteer hours.

On average, for every dollar that a Main Street program spent to support its operations, $21.73 was reinvested into its downtown and commercial corridor communities.

In the past year, and under Executive Director Jacquelyn Connolly’s leadership, Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District brought in more than $67,000 in revitalization specialist services to the Los Alamos community. The service engagements have steadily increased over the past several years and more than doubled since 2021. Part of these services include assistance with the third cohort of the Los Alamos MainStreet’s successful Business Accelerator program in conjunction with the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce.

Legacy community events also continued to grow in 2024, including Los Alamos ScienceFest and its new Discovery After Dark and Night Market initiatives, Halloweekend, the Month of Arts and Culture, Tuesdays at the Square and the Los Alamos Farmers Market. More activities and business support were also highlighted in White Rock, such as a Wednesday evening market and Winter Holiday Market. A 2024 placemaking project, Pop Up Los Alamos, featured Andrew Fearnside’s Desert Hare’s Leap, a colorful mural, along with shade sails and solar lighting in Central Park Square.

“Being accredited by Main Street America connects our program to a national movement supporting economic development in communities big and small,” said Chair George Marsden of the Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District Futures Committee. Through these connections, we have access to vital information, ideas, and resources that we would not have otherwise. Los Alamos is a community full of lots of smart folks, which of course means we know enough not to be reinventing the wheel when there are plenty of innovative programs around the country that we can emulate.”

About Los Alamos Mainstreet & Creative District

Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District is a program of Los Alamos Commerce & Development Corporation (LACDC), a private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization. LACDC serves as the umbrella organization for Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District, Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce, Discover Los Alamos, Los Alamos Small Business Center, projectY cowork Los Alamos, and Los Alamos Research Park. For more information, visit www.LosAlamosMainStreet.com.

About Main Street America

Main Street America leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. For more than 40 years, Main Street America has provided a practical, adaptable, and impactful framework for community-driven, comprehensive revitalization through the Main Street Approach™. Our network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, shares both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, the Main Street Movement has resulted in $115.42 billion reinvested locally, 181,647 net new businesses, 815,895 net new jobs, 345,801 buildings rehabilitated, and 37.3 million volunteer hours. Main Street America is a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit mainstreet.org.