My Main Street

The City of Vaughan and the Economic Developers Council of Ontario delivered the My Main Street Local Business Accelerator program, which focused on creating and maintaining vibrant and inviting local main streets. This program provided new entrepreneurs and existing businesses with economic opportunities in their main street communities.

The City was awarded grant funding by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) under the My Main Street Local Business Accelerator program for two out of only 65 available My Main Street ambassador positions across the province.

The My Main Street program supported 100 businesses and was able to reach over 200 businesses within the Yonge and Centre Corridor and HWY7 and Weston Corridor. The City of Vaughan was able to disburse $200,000 of non-repayable contributions which helped 20 businesses expand and create economic impact. With the help of the funding, they were able to hire more staff, upgrade their equipment, improve their marketing, and create more brand awareness, further contributing to a healthy retail mix within these main streets.

The program was concluded in March of 2023 and applications for market research reports and non-repayable funding contributions are closed.

The program supported new and existing small businesses located within the selected My Main Street areas with:

Dedicated Main Street ambassadors – These individuals helped My Main Street businesses identifying applicable resources and funding.
Training – Participating businesses had the opportunity to take part in different types of training provided by the My Main Street team and the City. Training ranges from business setup, finance, marketing and communications.
Customized market research – Participating businesses had the opportunity to obtain market research particular to their business to help identify potential economic opportunities.
Data analysis – A deep data dive into the main street community was provided to participating My Main Street businesses to understand important trends and non-repayable funding contributions.
Funding – Ten My Main Street businesses received up to $10,000 in non-repayable contributions to support local businesses.

** Applications for market research reports and non-repayable funding contributions are now closed. **

For more information about the program, please visit https://mymainstreet.ca/accelerator-program or email ed@vaughan.ca.

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Success Stories

Click on the link for each story below to learn more about our successful participants.