Kansas Main Street Affiliate Community Program

Recently Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced the creation of the Kansas Main Street Affiliate Community Program. The Kansas Main Street program was originally launched in 1985. Although it was ended in 2012, Governor Kelly resurrected the program in late 2019. Currently, there are 25 designated Kansas Main Street communities in the program. Kansas wants to have more. This new program is targeted to make that a reality.

Downtown business district of Ottawa, Kansas, By Ichabod; Creative Commons

As a membership-based program, the Affiliate Community Program is relatively different than other main street programs out there. It invites representatives from the member communities to attend training and technical services sessions. The same sessions that are typically only accessible to the 25 designated Main Street program communities in Kansas. This is key as it allows many communities that don’t have the wherewithal to become a Main Street program community. They can now get the training and technical assistance that helps them move closer to that designation.

“My administration brought back the Main Street program because it is a proven tool to help Kansas’ rural communities recruit and retain businesses, and restore and preserve the unique history of their downtown corridors,” Governor Kelly said through a press release. “This Affiliate Community Program will bring more resources for downtown development to rural Kansas communities to maintain the health and viability of their downtowns, and will be a strong resource for my administration to highlight as we continue to recruit new businesses to our state.”

Find out More

The Kansas Main Street website has a wealth of information about the various assistance programs available to help Kansas communities improve their downtowns. Kansas Main Street is affiliated with the National Main Street Center. Main Street is a self-help, technical assistance program with training and technical assistance to assist communities become self-sufficient in downtown revitalization.

Those interested in participating in the Kansas Main Street Affiliate Community Program can fill out the program Registration Form.

For more information on the Kansas Main Street program, contact Scott Sewell, Director of Kansas Main Street, at (785) 296-3485 or [email protected]. For links to the Kansas Main Street page and more financial and technical assistance opportunities, check our Rural Resurrection’s Tool Kit page.