The Connecticut Main Street Designated programs that have earned accreditation for their 2014 performance are New London, Simsbury, Upper Albany-Hartford, and Waterbury.  The announcement was made at the National Main Streets Conference in Atlanta on Monday.

"Connecticut's accredited Main Street programs have worked diligently to meet the standards established by the National Main Street Center, and we are pleased to see them recognized on a national level for their achievement," said John Simons, President & CEO of Connecticut Main Street Center. "Local Main Street programs across our state work every day to bring jobs and businesses to their downtowns, which strengthens the overall economy of their communities and, in turn, that of Connecticut as a whole."

"We congratulate this year's nationally accredited Main Street programs for their outstanding accomplishment in meeting the National Main Street Center's performance standards," said Patrice Frey, president & CEO of the National Main Street Center. "Accredited Main Street programs create vibrant communities by using a comprehensive strategy to preserve their historic character and revitalize their commercial districts, which helps make these great places to work, live, play and visit."

Working in partnership with the National Main Street Center, Connecticut Main Street Center evaluates each of the state's Designated Main Street Programs annually to identify those programs that meet ten 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. Evaluation criteria determine the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.  More information is available at National Main Street Accreditation.