DOWNTOWN MOREHEAD CITY, INC. 

RECEIVES 2024 MAIN STREET AMERICA ACCREDITATION 

Morehead City, NC (5/30/24) – Downtown Morehead City, Inc. (DMC, Inc.) has been designated as a 2024 Accredited Main Street America™ program for demonstrating exceptional performance in the six standards of community evaluation as outlined by the MSA Program.?Each year, Main Street America and its state partners announce the list of Accredited programs to recognize each local community’s commitment to preservation-based, economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™. 

“We are incredibly excited to celebrate this year’s 1,188 designated Main Street America programs, and their remarkable efforts to reenergize their local economies and public spaces,” said Main Street America President and CEO Erin Barnes. “Main Street leaders are visionaries that see things that no one else can see and create the future world we all want to live in. The size and impact of our network demonstrates that great things happen when visions are realized through strategic, grassroots collaboration.”  

In 2023, Main Street America programs generated $5.68 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 6,630 net new businesses, facilitated the creation of 35,162 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 10,556 historic buildings, and leveraged 1,664,763 volunteer hours. On average, for every dollar?that a Main Street program spent to support their operations, $18.03 of new investment was generated back into their downtown and commercial corridor communities. 

Downtown Morehead City, Inc.’s performance is evaluated annually by the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center, who works in partnership with Main Street America to identify which local programs meet these rigorous national performance standards. To quality for Accreditation status, communities must satisfy a series of evaluation benchmarks that include commitments to building grassroots revitalization programs, fostering strong public-private partnerships, nurturing economic opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and actively preserving historic places, spaces, and cultural assets. 

In the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year, a total of $33 million was generated in local reinvestment, 20 new businesses opened, 58 new full and part-time jobs were created, 26 façade improvements were completed, and 987 volunteer hours were contributed – all in the Downtown Morehead City area from 18th to 4th streets, water to water. 

Kathryn Metts, Executive Director of Downtown Morehead City, Inc. said, “We had a phenomenal year in Downtown Morehead City and continue to look forward to what the future brings for our district! It is an honor to be recognized as an Accredited Program again in 2024, and we are sincerely grateful for the tremendous amount of support that we receive from our network of volunteers, downtown business owners, town and county leaders, partner organizations, residents, visitors, and all those who share our vision for making Downtown Morehead City the best it can be.”