On May 19, Main Street America announced the recipients of The Grills Fund for Main Street Revitalization, a grant program that will provide eight accredited Main Street America Programs across the nation $10,000 each to help fund innovative revitalization efforts to address the current and/or legacy impact of COVID-19.

“These winning ideas represent the ingenuity and entrepreneurial thinking that have made Main Street a powerful tool for revitalization and will be vital to economic recovery moving forward. These programs have not only actively positioned their communities and programs for success, but they have also offered model approaches that can be adapted by other Main Streets.” – Patrice Frey, President and CEO, Main Street America

We are thrilled to congratulate Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR), a designated Virginia Main Street (VMS) program, for having been selected as an award recipient! HDR seeks to boost local online shopping and build consumer confidence in returning downtown by helping businesses implement digital and physical store improvements. Their three-part small business assistance program, Bricks & Clicks: Downtown Recovery, will start with a training for all downtown businesses. Small business owners will then apply to get matched with local technical assistance experts, who will help them identify solutions to challenges and prepare grant project proposals. Grant-eligible projects can either address public health improvements at physical locations or make digital enhancements to boost online brand identity and e-commerce.

“All of us at HDR are both blown away and relieved by the news of receiving this grant! Every dollar that we can put towards helping our businesses succeed right now remains important to us. We cannot wait to get started on our Bricks & Clicks program, and we look forward to sharing lessons learned and best practices so others can recreate a version in their communities and hopefully do it even better!” – Andrea Dono, Executive Director, HDR

You can learn more about the other grant recipients here!