Main Street Alabama has selected Selma as a new community to join the program with full designation.
Selma has been an aspiring community and applied this year to become a full member. The Selma Redevelopment Authority, along with many speakers from the city of Selma and business owners, made a presentation to join in May and was announced as accepted on June 2.
Dothan was also approved alongside Selma as new communities in Main Street Alabama, which is a private non-profit and state coordinating program of Main Street America.
They join more than 30 other cities – including Demopolis, Marion and Montgomery in the Black Belt – as full members of Main Street Alabama.
“Main Street Alabama designation requires thoughtful preparation, strong local collaboration, and long-term commitment,” said Mary Helmer Wirth, President and State Coordinator of Main Street Alabama. “We’re proud to work alongside communities as they build sustainable revitalization programs focused on economic development, historic preservation, and ongoing community engagement.”
In the designation announcement, Main Street Alabama said Selma joins the program with a downtown district centeredon Water Avenue and Old Town Historic Districts, which together contain some of the state’s most significant historicresources.
It says: “Selma’s downtown includes historic commercial buildings, museums, churches, hotels, arts spaces, and civic institutions connected to the city’s role in Alabama history and the Civil Rights Movement. The community’s priorities focus on adaptive reuse of historic structures, expansion of loft housing, streetscape and pedestrian improvements,business development, tourism promotion, and increased use of downtown parks and riverfront assets. Recent publicand private investment projects include infrastructure improvements, restoration work along Water Avenue,redevelopment planning efforts following the January 2023 tornado, and continued rehabilitation of historic buildings including the St. James Hotel and multiple Water Avenue properties.”
Selma Redevelopment Authority director Sarah Aghedo said she spent a year and a half researching ownership of buildings in downtown Selma to present vacancy rates, percent of out-of-town owners and other statistics for the report. The presentation featured a PowerPoint, video and in-person presentations from city officials such as Danielle Wooten, business owner AC Reeves and Verdell Lett Dawson of Historic Tabernacle Baptist.
Selma was one of the first cities to join Main Street Alabama in the 1980s but left years later. Several attempts were made to rejoin before being successful this year.
Main Street Alabama will begin work immediately to provide board development, goal setting, work planning, market study with economic development strategies, targeted design assistance, and training related to district development, the announcement said.
The National Main Street program has a Four Point Approach that is a nearly 50-year model that focuses work in four areas: organization, design, promotion, and economic vitality with strategies unique to the community and based on market-based outcome.
“Community input and market data help shape achievable goals, but the real strength of revitalization comes from bringing people to the table and working together toward a common vision,” said Wirth.
Other Main Street Alabama members are Alexander City, Anniston, Athens, Atmore, Birmingham’s 4th Avenue Business District, Birmingham’s Woodlawn District, Calera, Centreville, Columbiana, Decatur, Demopolis, Elba, Enterprise, Eufaula, Florence, Foley, Fort Payne, Gadsden, Heflin, Jasper, LaFayette, Leeds, Madison, Marion, Monroeville, Montevallo, Montgomery, Opelika, Oxford, Russellville, Scottsboro, South Huntsville, Talladega and Wetumpka in using Main Street’s comprehensive and incremental revitalization approach.
Each Designated community reports their success by tracking their reinvestment statistics. Main Street Alabama’s Designated communities have reported 1,539 net new businesses, 4,645 net new jobs, $1,169,960,165 in private investment, $247,681,891 in public improvements, and 266,961 volunteer hours in their districts collectively since June2014.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.