Batesville Main Street has been designated as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance set by the National Trust Main Street Center.

Batesville is one of 42 Mississippi programs accredited through the center, according to an announcement by the Mississippi Main Strett Association. Other northwest Mississippi communities include Holly Springs, Tunica, Senatobia and Water Valley.

“Receiving National Main Street Accreditation is a prestigious designation and we congratulate each of these communities for its achievements,” said Bob Wilson, MMSA executive director. “Our Main Street programs in Mississippi play a strategic role in stimulating economic development in our state.”
“I want to emphasize the role of our volunteers for helping achieve this accreditation,” said Batesville Main Street manager Colleen Clark.

Batesville Main Street is a program of the Panola Partnership.

“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards,” said Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center.
“Accredited Main Street programs are meeting the challenges of the recession head on and are successfully using a focused, comprehensive revitalization strategy to keep their communities vibrant and sustainable,” he added.

The Main Street organizations are evaluated annually by the Mississippi Main Street Association, which works in partnership with the National Trust Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards.

These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program’s application of the Main Street Four-Point Approach® to commercial district revitalization.

During the 2011 calendar year, Mississippi Main Street Communities generated 220 net new businesses, 72 business expansions to existing businesses, 1,114 net new jobs, 100 facade rehabilitations and 351 upper floor housing developments. More than 42,195 volunteer hours were recorded.