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Roanoke Rapids Main Street Director Elected to Statewide Leadership Role

ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. – Ashley Thomas, Main Street Development Director for the City of Roanoke Rapids, has been elected to the North Carolina Downtown Development Association Board of Directors.

Thomas will serve as the association’s Northeast Director for the 2026–2028 term, representing downtown development interests and communities throughout northeastern North Carolina.Ashley D. Thomas, Roanoke Rapids, NC

“This appointment gives Roanoke Rapids a meaningful voice in statewide conversations about downtown development,” Thomas said. “I look forward to representing our region, learning from communities across North Carolina, and bringing back ideas and connections that can strengthen our work here at home.”

Thomas joined the City of Roanoke Rapids in July 2025 and leads Main Street Roanoke Rapids, the City’s downtown revitalization program. Her work focuses on business support, community engagement, economic vitality, historic preservation, district promotion, and the continued redevelopment of the Roanoke Avenue corridor.

The North Carolina Downtown Development Association is a statewide nonprofit organization that supports downtown professionals and communities through education, advocacy, networking, and the exchange of best practices. Its membership recently elected 11 new board members, whose two-year terms began in July 2026.

Thomas’s election places Roanoke Rapids among the communities helping guide the association’s statewide work and strengthens the city’s connections to downtown development professionals, resources, and successful revitalization strategies across North Carolina.

Learn more about the North Carolina Downtown Development Association at www.ncdda.org.

About Main Street Roanoke Rapids

Main Street Roanoke Rapids is a City-led downtown development program working to support a vibrant, welcoming, and economically resilient Roanoke Avenue corridor. The program advances revitalization through the Main Street Approach, with a focus on design, organization, promotion, and economic vitality.

 
 
 

Main Street America Affiliate Roanoke Rapids    mslogo


 

 

 

As a Main Street America™ Affiliate, Roanoke Rapids is part of a national network of neighborhoods and communities that share both a commitment to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Roanoke Rapids is a North Carolina Main Street community, designated by the N.C. Department of Commerce Main Street & Rural Planning Center.  Main Street Roanoke Rapids is charged with administering the program at the local level and building public-private partnerships to spur economic development that achieves measurable results such as investment, business growth, and job creation.

North Carolina Main Street Rural Planning Center 
The NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center is a Main Street America™ Coordinating Program. Main Street America™ is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As one of the first Main Street America™ Coordinating Programs designated in 1980, NC Main Street inspires placemaking through building asset-based economic development strategies. The NC Main Street staff is charged by the NC Department of Commerce to facilitate downtown economic development using the Main Street America Four-Point Approach. The Main Street Approach™ focuses on economic development strategies to transform downtown. These strategies articulate a focused path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown economy. Designated NC Main Street community's work is organized around the Four-Point Approach: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion, and Organization. 


Learn more about the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center. 

 

The National Main Street Program | Main Street America™ 
Main Street America™ has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts since 1980. Today it is a network of neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, that share both commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Main Street America™ is a movement. It is the leading voice for preservation-based economic development and community revitalization across the country. Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities, and urban commercial districts, Main Street America represents the broad diversity that makes this country so unique. Working together, the programs that make up the Main Street America network help to breathe new life into the places people call home. 

Learn more about Main Street America.