My Main Street recognizes the power of placemaking to strengthen communities. These initiatives draw visitors, boost local vibrancy, and help revitalize neighbourhoods. By reimagining public spaces, community activations foster social connection, encourages economic activity, and builds stronger ties between people and the places they share.
The Community Activator program is currently closed. Be the first to know of the next My Main Street intake.
COMMUNITY ACTIVATIONS CAN INCLUDE

Events and Activations
Community events of a short, limited or repeating duration intended to draw visitors or create a new local offering, helping position a specific geographic area as a hub of community and economic activity.

Community enhancements
Above grade improvements to a specific geographic area that will enhance its physical and visual appeal, draw people in and increase feelings of safety, connection and community enjoyment.

Streetscape Improvements
Projects that facilitate a focused, deliberate path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown or commercial district’s economy through intentional and creative placemaking.
Successful applicants may receive up to 25% of their approved project costs in advance, ensuring financial support to jumpstart their initiatives. Projects are selected based on their ability to support sustainable placemaking strategies and deliver lasting economic and social benefits, particularly for equity-deserving groups.
Community Activator Success Stories

Walk Through the Black History of Windsor’s McDougall Street

Temporary Skating Rinks in Kitchener and LaSalle Encourage People to Get Outside — and Stay a While

Patio Program Triples Return on Investment for Downtown Kitchener Businesses
BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THE COMMUNITY ACTIVATOR INITIATIVE

Capacity Building and Skill Development
The initiative strengthens local capacity by supporting organizations in project planning, community engagement, and execution—building skills that can be applied to future initiatives.

Strengthening Community Identity and Leadership
Participants are empowered to reflect their community’s unique identity through creative placemaking, while fostering local leadership and encouraging inclusive collaboration.

Lasting Community Impact
Projects delivered through the initiative create long-term value by enhancing public spaces, increasing accessibility, and laying the foundation for sustained community and economic development.

Enhanced Visibility and Local Engagement
The initiative helps position recipients as champions of revitalization, increasing their visibility within the community and encouraging deeper connections with residents, stakeholders, and local partners.
MY MAIN STREET COMMUNITY ACTIVATORS DEMONSTRATE
Vision
Placemaking projects are clearly defined with a clear geographic area and well-conceived objectives, including those related to equity-deserving populations. The project has a clear scope and objective and includes an innovative or reimagined activation.
Capacity
Community activations are supported by a project strong team in place with a well-thought-out plan for successful implementation, a fully costed budget and a clearly articulated plan to measure success.
Community need
The proposed geographic area for the activation has a clearly defined need demonstrated by historical patterns of retail spend, mobility and demographic representation.
Custom Market Research Reports
Businesses receive a customized Market Research Report to support their application, and successful projects.
The data insights from the report can be leveraged to strengthen project applications with local context specific to their community. Within the report, businesses will get insights into their community’s:
- Household spend
- Food spend
- Behavioural numeric data
- Behaviour optics e-shopper
- Behaviour shoppers e-choice
The Market Research Report provides an additional understanding of your customer base, including where customers are from, general market behaviour, how to communicate to them through various media channels, and how they spend their money. It is a deep-data dive into the main street to help the business understand their community’s market gaps.
Eligible businesses will receive a one-on-one consultation with a Portfolio Manager to review how to use the analysis to target your business growth opportunities and support your marketing strategies.
The data within these reports includes census information from Statistics Canada and proprietary licensed data from our partner Environics Analytics.
My Main Street Is Currently Closed
To hear about program updates, intakes, and more, subscribe to our newsletter.
Frequently Asked Questions
PARTNERS
My Main Street is operated by the Canadian Urban Institute and funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

