Washington's Main Street Program has passed its annual assessment, program manager David Jenkins said, garnering praise from the state of Georgia.

Mary Alice Applegate of the Office of Downtown Development for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs conducted the annual assessment visit on Thursday, January 8, 2009, and awarded the program continued accreditation for 2009, he said.

In her assessment, Applegate said, "Washington's Main Street program is very strong - it seems that all of Washington's downtown development 'partners' are on the same page, working together to create a climate of success. When I say partners, I mean the City of Washington's staff and elected officials, the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), the Chamber of Commerce, downtown businesses, and even civic organizations."

Applegate said that Washington has used a number of downtown development tools. "They have been very proactive to encourage development. For example, they are one of only six cities in the state to have established an Opportunity Zone classification in 2008, to be able to offer job tax credits for new businesses in the designated area."

In addition to reviewing the prescribed assessment documentation, Jenkins said, Applegate visited several downtown businesses and interviewed DDA board members Pam Eaton, Mike Eskew, and Debbie Jackson, and also interviewed Main Street Manager Jenkins.

The Main Street program is a national organization which comes under the purview of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and strives to promote development, revitalization and historic preservation in the downtown area of its member cities through a four-point approach which includes organization, design, promotion, and economic restructuring.