Main Street Scranton Initiative Builds Community Support

It takes the hard work of many local people to sustain the continued revitalization of Downtown Scranton and no other recent initiative has done more to harness the energy of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s community and economic leaders than the Main Street Scranton Initiative.

The Main Street Scranton Initiative, coordinated by Scranton Tomorrow, is a volunteer-driven effort to preserve Scranton’s historic character while facilitating development efforts. Main Street Scranton will be guided by the input of local business leaders working through five committees that target specific areas of Scranton’s revitalization - Economic Restructuring; Design; Safe Clean and Green; Promotion; and Organization. “The response has been great,” said Scranton Tomorrow’s Lisa Sauder. “We’ve got 80-100 volunteers working on those five committees.”

For nearly 20 years, the Main Street approach has been successfully employed in more than 1,600 communities across the United States, generating a net of 52,000 new businesses and 206,000 new jobs in participating communities.

According to Sauder, the Scranton initiative aims for a wider reach than most similar programs across the country. “Geographically, we’re working with a very large footprint; it’s very ambitious” Sauder said. “It’s unique in the sheer size of it.”

The Main Street Scranton Initiative has targeted an area that stretches from Mifflin Avenue to Jefferson Avenue and from Bogart Court to Olive Street and includes the University of Scranton, Lackawanna College and the Commonwealth Medical College.

Among the efforts that Main Street Scranton has already undertaken are a “Tokens for Meters’ program that provided downtown business owners with tokens for parking meters to “make it easier for businesses to do business in the downtown,” according to Sauder, as well as familiarization tours for the front desk staff of local hotels staff to help them guide out-of-town guests to Scranton attractions. The Main Street Initiative also plans to provide anchor building and façade improvement grants as part of its overall approach to developing Downtown Scranton.

For more information or to get involved with the Main Street Scranton Initiative, contact Lisa Sauder at 570-963-7576 or email lisa@scrantontomorrow.org.