Tag: Quality of Place
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New Arts Venues Energize Communities
We are always on the lookout for exciting new artistic and cultural initiatives and venues, so please let us know when you find one. New arts venues that we are very excited about include: Congratulations and good luck to all these new creative endeavors!
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Bucks for Communities?
With the recent successful passing of the “Bucks for Brains” legislation this year, some folks were wondering: What would a “bucks for communities” program look like, and what impact would it have? It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t agree that many of our communities, large and small, are suffering in terms of population loss,…
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Elkins Putting Their Quality of Place on Rails
With the American Mountain Theater and Scenic WV Rail Excursions, the Elkins area has experienced some exciting improvements in its “quality of place.” The important point about these investments is not only how it draws in tourism dollars (over 300 buses full of tourists are projected for 2008), but how it builds Elkins into a…
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Generation West Virginia – A New Era for Young Professionals in WV
Part of retaining any important demographic is to ensure there is a strong sense of community for them. Almost any region can be “home” if there are strong relationships in place. Towards that end, Generation West Virginia, a statewide coalition of young leaders and talent organizations, is launching their efforts with a special event April…
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Fayetteville and Oak Hill – Two Sides of the Wal-Mart Coin
The Washington Times recently documented the impact of Wal-Mart’s decision to leave Oak Hill and open up a larger “super center” in Fayetteville. The impact on Fayetteville’s city budget has been significant, but Oak Hill has developed a spunky attitude about filling the void. The town set some revenue aside in a rainy-day fund, aware…
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Community Development Training Opportunity
Does your community want to move forward but the public officials or informal leaders are not sure how to proceed? A good place to learn the “tools of the trade” for community and economic development is the Community Development Institute East. This national training program that will be held April 28 through May 2 at…
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Cool Towns – How Did They Get That Way?
David Ivan is a passionate guy. A researcher and program manager at Michigan State University’s createwv.typepad.com Extension Office, he spends a great deal of time talking to people in small towns like many of those in West Virginia. createwv.typepad.com What’s his purpose? To identify those rural, small town communities that are bucking the trend and…
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Signs of Life in Post-Industrial Communities
Two more case studies on how to re-invigorate life in smaller towns and cities. Johnstown, PA, a rustbelt city in Western PA, that has declined from a population of 63,000 fifty years ago to just 22,000 today as heavy manufacturing collapsed. Can a ghost town come back to life? From AP: Decades after heavy industry…
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Money is No Object
Money Is No Object From time to time, I hear rumbles that the concept of a creative community is, well,……perhaps the word is high falutin’. Somewhere along the line, creative thinking and wanting something beautiful and expressive became all mixed up with elitism. I have two simple examples of how profoundly off-base this idea is.…
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Creative Communities Resolution
In preparation for future legislation in support of building creative communities for the new economy, the West Virginia House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 63 (HCR63) in Wednesday. This is an exciting step towards building the awareness and insight among our state legislators on how to draft legislation to support creative economy activity and…