HOUSTON -- Many U.S. communities with bustling downtowns were better prepared to weather economic fallout from the pandemic, thanks to a decades-old revitalization project.

The Main Street program was founded by Mary Means in the 1970s when she worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Means said regional shopping centers and suburban lifestyles were draining downtowns, leaving behind shabby buildings and vacant storefronts that once lined vibrant main streets.

"What we were doing with the Main Street project, it turns out, is creating another story: 'Hold on, you can stay. You can do some things about it and here's how to get started, and here's what to do,'" Means explained.

Now known as Main Street America, the program continues to help communities transform their economies and improve residents' quality of life. Means was about to publish a book about her life's project called "Main Street's Comeback" when COVID-19 hit. She revised the title to include: "And How It Can Come Back Again," with advice to businesses about staying afloat during the pandemic.

After a pilot program in three cities, Means said Texas was one of the first states to apply for grant money, promising to choose five towns a year for 10 years, and back them to do Main Street revitalization.

"Nobody made a claim like that. We just thought it was Texas," Means recounted. "But by God they have, and it's been long beyond 10 years that Texas has been entering new towns in the program and providing the kind of support that enabled Texas towns to survive, and many of 'em to thrive."

Means said it's helpful 40 years after the project began, there are investment tax credits for historic buildings that make revitalizing downtown areas more doable.

"Not only do communities need to take a look at the usually hidden or undiscovered asset of their historic downtown buildings, they need to really keep them up, and bring them back and keep them up," Means urged.

An upcoming art exhibition in Chicago aims to provide a new framework to view the city's struggles with housing, past and present.

Hosted by the Weinberg/Newton Gallery on North Milwaukee Street, the "Key Change" exhibition envisions the housing crisis through painting, collage, sculpture, video and large-scale installations.

Nabiha-Khan Giordano, co-director of the gallery, said the idea is to highlight alternative solutions to the housing crisis.

"Like most private ventures, there's a tremendous amount of asymmetry in private housing," Giordano pointed out. "And it's this very unevenness that many of the participants in the exhibition are compelled to represent."

The exhibit, which opens Friday and runs until July 16, comes as many people across the state struggle to meet their housing needs, since most pandemic-era support programs have ended. A February report from the Institute for Housing Studies estimates about one in four Illinois renters are behind on their rent, and more than half of renters who've fallen behind on their payments believe they could be evicted by May.

Isabel Strauss, an artist at Riff Studio, is an architect by training. Her work for the Key Change exhibit is a collage of images and artwork, some by Black artists, with archival photographs, including homes demolished due to racist housing initiatives. Strauss said part of her goal is to spur discussion on reparations for Black Americans.

"A lot of people shut down entirely when you even mention the idea of reparations," Strauss acknowledged. "But I think most of us -- from personal experience, or through the lens of the affordable housing crisis that's happening now -- I think most of us can understand the need and the desire to have a place to live."

Black people in America have historically been barred from homeownership through intentional urban planning choices and the discriminatory credit and insurance policies known as redlining. Strauss noted those practices have hampered the accumulation of wealth in Black communities.

"Homeownership has been a tool to accumulate wealth," Strauss explained. "It can be a financial asset and also give people a respite from the racial reckoning that we've seen publicly over the past couple years, but also many of us have known and lived with for much longer."

The Key Change exhibition is a collaboration between the Weinberg/Newton Gallery and Mercy Housing Lakefront, an affordable housing nonprofit. According to a news release, Mercy Housing operates more than 5,500 homes, with about 8,000 residents, across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

"Worlds Imagined" is the theme of this year's campaign for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month - which is March. Iowans with disabilities and their advocates hope the public pays more attention to their creative work.

The campaign is about promoting the everyday contributions of those with disabilities, they say, and how communities can be inclusive in helping them achieve goals. Des Moines author Diane Glass, who was born with spina bifida, said she hopes her latest collection of poetry resonates on two key fronts.

"I think that this creative approach can hopefully give people with disabilities some differing perspective on their situation," said Glass, "and can help the larger public understand that people with disabilities are a wonderful resource."

Over the past decade, arts organizations and agencies have acknowledged those with disabilities are underrepresented in the performing and visual arts. That includes participation, employment and even attendance at performances.

As part of the campaign, the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council is accepting submissions of creative work and testimonials this month to share with the public.

Adam Reynolds, a Des Moines resident who has cerebral palsy, described photography as his passion. Through social media, he shares a range of photos, with the downtown area serving as his favorite location.

"I do daytime and nighttime shots of the capitol and of just, you know, numerous buildings," said Reynolds.

He said he hopes that one day he can expand his audience through other avenues. Reynolds said his ultimate goal is to secure enough funding to open his own gallery.

But to get there, he said he feels there needs to be more support from influential voices on the arts scene, and the community in general, to help him realize his dreams.

You might think older Americans would read more than their younger counterparts, because of retirement or a more flexible lifestyle. In fact, those ages 50 and older are more likely to be non-book readers.

Lee Rainie, director of internet and technology research for the Pew Research Center, keeps track of America's reading habits.

"Those who are ages 18 to 29, they're the most likely to have read a book of any kind in the previous year," Rainie reported. "Considerably more likely than those who are age 65 and older."

In many parts of the U.S. and Canada, February is designated "I Love to Read Month," a good time to boost reading after the hectic holidays and while spring is still far off for many regions.

Rainie noted electronic or e-books were once expected to surpass traditional books in popularity, but it has not happened.

"There's been a rise in e-book reading, particularly between 2019 and 2021, so over the term of the pandemic," Rainie acknowledged. "But printed books are still far and away the single most popular form of book reading."

Dedicated readers know books can dive deeper into a topic than even the most well-informed journalism can, but Rainie pointed out readers also like traditional books for nostalgic reasons.

"People just rhapsodize about printed books in their hands and their memories as children reading books with their parents, or their memories as parents reading books with their children," Rainie explained.

There is even some data showing reading can make you a better citizen, according to Rainie.

"And there's a lot of sort of correlational evidence that people who are heavy book readers are more civically engaged, more tied to the news, more likely to be participants in civic life, more likely to be volunteers in their communities," Rainie outlined.

He added those with a bachelor's or advanced degree report reading more than those with only a high school diploma, as do those whose annual household income is more than $75,000 per year.