The PA Downtown Center hosted its quarterly Main Street Managers’ meeting in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania State Museum on March 22 & 23. Under Governor Corbett’s proposed budget, the Department of Community and Economic Development New Communities Program will now be rolled into the Keystone Communities line item. Though we will be sharing a fraction of the funds previously allocated to programs like Main and Elm Street; it appears likely that communities under contract will continue be funded throughout the remainder of their program cycles.

Funding will be extremely competitive, performance based, and dependent upon evidence of regional partnerships. The department will proactively address the needs of small business by building upon asset unique to an area or a particular enterprise. Economic Restructuring Committees are being asked to expand beyond the Central Business District and partner at a regional level utilizing corridors, sections, or regions as their new boundary. Another significant change is the addition of a fifth Main Street committee whose basis is sustainability, assuring the continuation and leveraging of funds entrusted to Main Street Programs for the purpose of economic development and historic preservation of communities across the Commonwealth