Image Credit: Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.***
By: Cassandra Stephenson [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Four West Tennessee communities are among the latest cohort selected by the state’s economic development department to receive $20,000 grants for downtown improvement projects.
The two-year grant program provides coaching to communities taking effort to revitalize their downtown commercial districts while retaining historic character, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The department announced the recipients of the 10th round of the Tennessee Downtowns program Wednesday.
West Tennessee recipients include:
- Dyer (Gibson County), located north of Trenton with a population of 2,308 according to the 2020 U.S. Census
- Medina (Gibson County), a growing town of 5,126 residents north of Jackson
- Henning (Lauderdale County), a community of 871 located on Highway 51, south of Ripley
- Moscow (Fayette County), a town of 572 located east of Collierville near the Mississippi state line
Other recipients include:
- Harriman (Roane County), a town of 5,892 residents bisected by the Emory River
- Red Bank (Hamilton County), a 6.5-square-mile city encompassed by Chattanooga that is home to nearly 11,900 residents
- Rutledge (Grainger County), a town with a population of just over 1,300 people that falls within the Knoxville and Morristown metropolitan areas
Each participating community must have a volunteer steering committee hosted by a nonprofit organization or city. Applicants were also required to show economic need, demonstrated by aging infrastructure and buildings, vacancy rates and lack of downtown business.
Each community selected has a downtown commercial district that is at least 50 years old. The communities will use Main Street America’s approach to revitalization, focusing on boosting economic vitality, enhancing downtown design, promoting the downtown district and organizing partnerships and community engagement.
Upon successfully completing the program, communities will be eligible for Main Street community designation, potentially joining 49 nationally accredited Main Street communities in Tennessee.
Communities that complete the program also become eligible for the Downtown Improvement Grant program and Placemakers Entrepreneurship Grants.
“I applaud the local leaders in these seven communities for taking the next step in applying for this program, which will in turn attract new investment and tourism in their downtowns,” TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter stated in a news release.
Including the newest cohort, 97 Tennessee communities have participated in the Tennessee Downtowns program.
