Main Street leadership is complex, and it can be difficult to understand the priorities and challenges of this role unless you have been in it. This summer, our research team worked with two extraordinary interns interested in the hard work of local Main Street executive directors: Amy Gonzalez, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate program in historic preservation, and Josephine Patch, a recent graduate of Appalachian State University.

Amy and Josephine met with local program leadership in Boston and North Carolina to gather insights into which aspects of the job energized leaders and which aggravated them. They uncovered some key insights during their observations and interviews with the six Main Street leaders, including.

Main Street Leadership is Demanding

Amy and Josephine found that being a Main Street leader is an ​“around-the-clock” role that can be hard for even the most extroverted and energetic individuals. ​“To be a Main Street director is to know the rhythm of the community pulse and to have doors that are always open,” said Amy.

“The most common observations that directors made about themselves, and a quality they believe to be necessary for any Main Street leader, is the ability to take criticism and still care for their town when interpersonal tensions arise,” said Josephine. ​“Main Street leaders can face burnout from the emotionally demanding aspects of their jobs even when their relationships are not fraught, since they are, in a sense, ​‘always on’”.

We Need Better Financial Support for Leaders

Limited salaries, benefit offerings, and complex funding arrangements make the attraction and retention of excellent local leaders much more challenging. ​“Low salaries and a lack of benefits deter talent,” said Amy. ​“This limitation inadvertently shapes the demographic of Main Street leaders, limiting who can and who cannot have a significant hand in molding their community.”

Amy also found that different districts face unique funding challenges. For example, Chinatown Main Street in Boston struggles to access traditional funding. ​“Typical grant structures are often ill-suited for dense, urban areas like Boston Chinatown, which have unique spatial and cultural needs, leading to a scramble for alternative resources,” said Amy.

Relationships and Collaboration are Key

Strong, cooperative local relationships with business owners, city staff, elected officials, and other stakeholders outweigh other factors in determining job satisfaction. Bureaucracy and stunted collaboration can stymie success and slow momentum. 

“Each director I spoke with told me their jobs boil down to relationship management; building trust and fostering collaboration between non-Main Street entities is crucial for effecting improvements,” said Josephine. ​“Salary seemed to matter less to each director’s potential longevity in comparison to the strength of one’s relationships with city officials.”

“While moving behind the scenes is essential, being approachable, physically present, forging and maintaining connections seems to be a large part of the job,” said Amy. ​“The ​‘behind the scenes’ work would likely be far less successful without the strong connections and positive relationships a director must work diligently to form.”

Recommendations for Local Leaders

Amy and Josephine made several recommendations based on their research, including: 

• To combat the isolation and heavy load of the work, Main Street programs should explore every avenue to bring on support staff. For example, local leaders could leverage stipends to attract youth volunteers. 
• Connecting Main Street leaders from different communities, disparate geographies, and different levels of the network can lead to greater impact and make the job more sustainable. 
• Main Street America can make the work easier by developing clear, powerful messages about what Main Street is and what role local Main Street leaders play. 
• Staff from Main Street America and coordinating programs can have an outsized positive impact by stepping up to assist local leaders when crises hit. 

Thank you to the six local leaders who participated in this project for taking the time to contribute to this research, and thank you to Amy and Josephine for their excellent work. You can read their full research reports here >

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Downtown Decorations, a Main Street America Allied Member, is this quarter’s Main Spotlight advertiser. For more information about what they do to support Main Street organizations, click here.