Executive Director of Troy Main Street
Amy Breinich serves as Executive Director of Troy Main Street, where she leads strategic initiatives that strengthen downtown Troy’s economic vitality, historic character, and community connection. A nonprofit leader with extensive experience in organizational strategy, event production, and place-based development, Breinich focuses on supporting small businesses, building cross-sector partnerships, and creating programs that position downtown districts as vibrant centers of civic life. Her leadership emphasizes collaboration, creativity, and measurable community impact through preservation-based economic development.
Before joining Troy Main Street, Breinich began her downtown redevelopment work in 2013 and was the founding executive director of Sidney Alive, where she guided transformative placemaking initiatives and helped advance revitalization strategies that earned statewide recognition, including Heritage Ohio’s Best Downtown Placemaking Award and regional nonprofit honors. She began her role in Troy in late 2024, continuing her work at the intersection of historic preservation, entrepreneurship support, and community-driven programming that brings energy and investment back into legacy downtown spaces.
Breinich also contributes to statewide revitalization efforts as a member of the Ohio Main Street Managers Advisory Committee through Heritage Ohio, where she collaborates with peer directors to help shape policy, training, and strategy for Main Street communities across Ohio. Known for her commitment to partnership-based leadership and strong local identity, she continues to champion the idea that thriving downtowns serve as the social and economic heartbeats of their communities.
As communities prepare to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, downtowns have an extraordinary opportunity: not just to commemorate history, but to create meaningful experiences that reconnect people to place, local business, and each other. This session explores how Main Street organizations can move beyond transactional events and create community-centered experiences that cultivate civic pride, social connection, and long-term economic vitality. Using real-world examples from Downtown Troy and national trends surrounding belonging, and social infrastructure, attendees will learn how intentional programming, storytelling, partnerships, and hospitality can transform ordinary downtown events into catalysts for community attachment and investment. This session demonstrates how preservation is not just about saving buildings. It is about creating places people emotionally connect to and want to fight for. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for: Designing events that create emotional connection and repeat visitation; translating face-to-face community experiences into digital storytelling; building partnerships between nonprofits, businesses, volunteers, and local government; strengthening downtown identity through hospitality and authenticity; historic downtowns are not museums. They are living rooms for American life.