Joining the Academy is free and easy. Here’s how:

MAIN STREET AMERICA MEMBERS

• If you are already signed in at main​street​.org: Click the ​“Join” button and complete the brief onboarding survey. 
• If you are not signed in at main​street​.org: Set your password here. Complete all fields and follow the prompts.

NON-MEMBERS 

Click the ​“Sign Up” button at the top of any page. Set your login credentials, click the ​“Sign Up” button, and follow steps to activate your account. Make sure to create your profile, then dive in! Many courses, resources, and articles are free. 
 

To reset your password, click here and follow the prompts.

To update your profile or account settings, click the yellow caret icon to the right of your profile icon in the top-right corner of any page. Then, click ​“Edit Profile.” Make changes to your profile and click ​“Save” button when you’re finished. 

The Academy platform works best on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari web browsers. While the platform is mobile-friendly, for the best experience (especially with video or interactive content), we strongly recommend using a desktop or tablet device with a stable internet connection.

In the Main Street America Academy, these labels indicate the difficulty level of a learning experience. Here’s a breakdown of these learning levels in relation to the Main Street Approach and related topics:

• Starting: For beginners with little or no prior knowledge
• Launching: For learners with some familiarity
• Growing: For practitioners with a solid foundation
• Innovating: For experienced, long-time Main Street practitioners
• Succeeding: For our most advanced Main Street leaders 

We offer these labels to help you find learning experiences that align with your level of expertise and professional development goals. While these labels are helpful indicators of a learning experience’s difficulty level, they are not prescriptive. We encourage you to explore the full range of courses throughout your learning journey — aim for more advanced content and revisit the basics in a sequence that works best for you! 

Navigate to the Learning section located in the left dashboard. Browse the course offerings and locate a learning experience you’d like to explore. Click the title to open the learning experience details page. From here, click the ​“Sign Up” button to enroll and then click the ​“Get Started” button to begin. 

Note: Paid learning experiences require registration; review the learning experience detail page for registration rates and instructions. 

Each learning experience shows a progress bar. As you complete sections of each course, the bar will update. You can also view overall completion on your Learning Dashboard, which displays learning experiences that are saved, in progress, and completed. 

Yes! The Academy platform automatically saves your place. Feel free to take breaks as you need. Then, when you’re ready to return, reopen the learning experience, and you’ll pick up exactly where you left off.

The point values assigned to each learning experience are related to our new Main Street America Revitalization Professional (MSARP) credential pathway. Launching in the coming months, this point-based system encourages practitioners to participate in a wide range of educational offerings, reflective learning, knowledge application, and contributions to the movement. You are seeing the point system architecture in the Academy now in preparation for the MSARP credential pathway rollout, and soon you will be able to accumulate and monitor your progress in your user dashboard. 

We love hearing about your experience with the Academy! At the end of each learning experience, you’ll find a built-in feedback survey. Please complete these surveys to provide feedback about the learning experiences. If you’d like to provide additional feedback, please email academy@​mainstreet.​org. 

Our community guidelines are critical to ensuring a welcoming environment for all users. All users are expected to abide by the community guidelines and are required to agree to them when creating their profile. The community guidelines can be accessed at any time here. 

Yes! Each course features a discussion board. Post questions, share insights, and respond to peers to enrich your learning experience. 

To notify us of any technical issues, please complete this form. In the ​“Notes” field, make sure to include a brief description of the issue as well as your device and/​or web browser details. If possible, please include any screenshots depicting the issue. We aim to respond within two business days.