Washington City Councilman Pamela Eaton admires the National Trust’s certificate with the city’s Economic Developer David Jenkins. Washington’s efforts to revitalize its commercial districts have achieved certification by the National Trust.

“The City of Washington’s Main Street program has now been accredited as a national Main Street program,” said Main Street Manager Joe Willis, “for meeting the commercial district revitalization standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center.”

The city’s Main Street program has actively been involved in helping entrepreneurs, Willis said, by conducting seminars on how to start a business, working in individual sessions with start-up and existing businesses, and working to secure loans for new and existing busi- nesses. “We’re also in the process of creating a business incubator which will allow the interaction and training needed to be successful.”

“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.”

Each year, the National Trust and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street programs that have built strong revitalization organizations and demonstrate their ability in using the Main Street methodology to strengthen their local economy and protect their historic buildings.

The local organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Georgia Main Street Program, which works in partnership with the National Trust Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards.

The evaluation determines which communities are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as developing a mission, fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking economic progress, and preserving historic buildings.

For more information on the national program accreditation program, visit www.mainstreet.org/ nationalprograms.