National Trust Main Street Center to Hold National Conference in New Orleans

2006 Conference Explores Preserving a Community’s Sense of Place through Heritage Resources

Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2006) – For more than a quarter century, some 1,800 communities across the nation have revitalized their Main Streets and once boarded up, forgotten downtown business districts through the National Trust Main Street Center. Now the experts in community revitalization will take on their greatest challenge to date as the Center holds its 2006 National Main Streets Conference in New Orleans, June 4–7, 2006. Originally scheduled to be held earlier in the year, the National Trust remains committed to holding the 2006 National Main Streets Conference in New Orleans, and hopes this will result in support for the local economy, historic preservation, and the city of New Orleans itself.

“The historic and cultural resources of New Orleans are part of what makes the city so special, and we must do everything possible to support the preservation of its heritage and character,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We remain dedicated to the ongoing recovery and rebuilding process in New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast region, and hope this conference will bring much-needed awareness of the significant undertaking still at hand.”

The 2006 National Main Streets Conference is the premier conference on preservation-based commercial district revitalization. Main Street practitioners and advocates from across the nation will gather to celebrate the Main Street movement with retrospectives, the Great American Main Street Awards and Main Street Leadership Awards.

This year's theme, Heritage Resources, will focus on ways that communities have incorporated local heritage and cultural resources into their community and commercial district revitalization efforts. The 2006 conference will offer nearly 1,500 participants best practices, tools, and great ideas for ways to create dynamic, livable places through the more than 50 educational sessions, workshops, and field sessions that focus on successful strategies for revitalizing downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. This conference attracts a diverse audience including directors of revitalization organizations, planners, architects, historic preservationists, business development specialists, economic development professionals, city management staff, CDC staff and more.

The 2006 National Main Streets Conference is hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in partnership with Louisiana Main Street, Louisiana Division of the Arts, and the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism.

PUBLIC: To register, or for more information about the 2006 National Main Streets Conference, please visit http://conference.mainstreet.org, or call 202-588-6219.

PRESS: Registration for the media is free. To register, please contact the National Trust Office of Communications, 202-588-6141.

For more information about the Main Street program and its innumerable successes over the years, visit www.mainstreet.org.

Established in 1980, the National Trust Main Street Center^® helps communities of all sizes revitalize their traditional historic commercial districts. The National Trust Main Street Center has been the leader of the preservation-based community revitalization movement and has proven historic preservation and community-driven economic development affects lasting change. Active in more than 1,800 downtowns and neighborhood business districts, the Main Street program has generated more than $23.3 billion in new investment. Participating communities have created 308,370 net new jobs, 67,000 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 107,179 buildings, leveraging an average of $26.67 in new investment for every dollar spent on Main Street initiatives.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that tell America’s story. Staff at the Washington, D.C., headquarters, six regional offices and 28 historic sites work with the Trust’s 270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states. For more information, visit the Trust’s web site at www.nationaltrust.org.