Fireworks Over Rocky Mount, NC: For Tanika Bryant And The Central City Revitalization Panel (CCRP)

Of all the great news this past week for Rocky Mount, NC, which included 140 boy and girl soccer teams at the Event Center with fantastic reviews and a grant of $450k for a new business launching a food distribution operation, ROCKY MOUNT IS BACK ON THE MAIN STREET ACCREDITATION LIST. I feel like running downtown and kissing everybody, but have found restraint and writing this blog post instead. I have to tweak a classic quotation from the movie Casablanca – “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world………Rocky Mount Main Street is an architectural jewel and accreditation with the Main Street Program will help improve its luster.

Here is a Main Street blurb that puts a frame around the importance of this news. Main Street America leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. For more than 43 years, Main Street America has provided a practical, adaptable, and impactful framework for community-driven, comprehensive revitalization through the Main Street Approach™. Our network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, communities participating in the program have generated more than $101.58 billion in new public and private investment, generated 168,693 net new businesses and 746,897 net new jobs, rehabilitated more than 325,119 buildings, and levered over 33.7 million volunteer hours. Main Street America is a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Rocky Mount is blessed with young talent making a significant contribution in revitalizing the city. No one can top Tanika Bryant, the Downtown Development Manager and her team at this moment. They have had the vision, understood the importance, worked tirelessly with Liz Parham, Director, NC Main Street and Rural Planning Center and Charles Halsall. He is the N.C. Main Street & Rural Planning Center’s coordinator for downtown programming and technical assistance, While at the Main Street Conference in Goldsboro a few weeks back, Mr. Halsall told me I would be very happy soon. I never dreamed accreditation was the reason. ‘Very happy’ is understated; try over the moon.

While at the Conference, which I loved every minute of, I joined three more Rocky Mount people. Tanika and Selena Richardson from the Downtown Development Office and Gary Hodges, who took all the official photographs. We ladies attended a few of the same workshops and had a delicious lunch together at a successful restoration restaurant. I was proud that Tanika and Selena were representing Rocky Mount.

Tanika, as the new downtown development manager has over 12 years of experience in business administration, human resources, and leadership, She says, “I am a passionate and driven public service professional.” In her new position, Tanika brings her skills and credentials in project management, HR management, training and development, and event coordination to drive development. “I am motivated by the mission and vision of The City of Rocky Mount, and I strive to bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the team and the stakeholders.”

An accredited Main Street program signals a strong commitment to comprehensive revitalization, backed by a track record of successfully applying the Main Street Approach. I have written about the Main Street program for a long time on this blog. Here are but a few of those posts. This post is dedicated to those who made this great news possible again. Thank You.

1. https://mainstreetrockymount.com/2024/03/09/blogger-stepheny-houghtlin-headed-to-goldsboro-and-the-main-street-conference/

2. https://mainstreetrockymount.com/2022/08/23/stepheny-laying-cards-on-the-table-about-the-main-street-program-for-rocky-mount-nc/

3. https://mainstreetrockymount.com/2020/07/21/lets-ride-over-to-tarboro-and-view-how-commitment-and-hard-work-wins-accreditation/