Tag: Quality of Place
-
What We Fear Most May Be Our Greatest Hope
In celebration of West Virginia Day and in support of the statewide social media collaboration to “identify obstacles and solutions” for our state by abetterwestvirginia.com, this post offers up a philosophical challenge for consideration. I won’t rehash the state’s problems that have been so well documented in every “best states/worst states” lists. We know what…
-
Not “Tee Up!” … I said “Tweet Up!”
Forget the white Christmas; I’ve been dreaming about a Charles Town tweet up! Not too long ago I came up with the idea of having a local “tweet up” for Charles Town, WV, folks on Twitter. A tweet up, for those who are not in the Twitter know, is just geek speak jargon used to…
-
McDowell County Creates Opportunities with Micro-Loan Program
Few regions of the country have experienced as much economic pounding as McDowell County, WV. Once a booming coal county with close to 100,000 people in the mid-20th century, it has been pummeled by coal industry job losses and flooding through the years. The latest 2007 census estimate was 22,000. Can you imagine a 78%…
-
The Block: An Urban to Rural Youth Connection
Create West Virginia diversity team member, Crystal Good, recently traveled to NYC to develop a relationship between Create West Virginia and The Arts Horizons LeRoy Neiman Art Center (The Center).Good along with The Center director, Clayton Evans, are seeking a partnership that will bridge the space and perceived differences of youth in Rand, WV and…
-
Help Select WV’s Top 101 Places to Dine (McDonald’s Doesn’t Count)
A lot of people don’t realize how important local cuisine is to a cultureand sense of place. Our country has been so oversaturated with national chains and franchises that much of the local “flavor” has been lost. That’s why we’re excited to see the WV Division of Tourism and the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia…
-
Social Media and Mountaintop Removal
You may not have been able to attend the recent hearing held by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regarding mining on Gauley Mountain, but you could almost be there thanks to social media technologies such as Twitter. With coverage from the likes of the Smithsonian Magazine, interest is certainly sky high on…
-
Join the Southern WV Create WV Summit and Enjoy an Off-Broadway Play
What’s better than talking about stimulating creativity in West Virginia and then seeing it in action? On Friday, April 10, join host group “Create Mercer” and the statewide Create WV team at the RiffRaff Arts Collective in downtown Princeton, WV, for an afternoon and evening of innovative culture and economic/community growth discussion. The Southern WV Create…
-
The Link Between Early Childhood Education and Economic Development
Although it seems everything under the sun is couched in “economic development” and “shovel ready” terms these days, a new report by Marshall University makes a compelling connection between the success of a region’s early childhood education and its economic prosperity. “It is very much an economic development program,” said Marshall University economist Cal Kent, who…
-
Morgan County Taking a Music ‘Census’
There is always something creative brewing in Morgan County: BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV —- As part of Back To Our Roots, its yearlong celebration of American roots arts, the Morgan Arts Council (MAC) of Berkeley Springs is conducting a local Music Census. An original census form has been developed and is available to anyone who lives…
-
Staying Accountable to Minority Communities Helps All of WV
Recently Create WV had the pleasure of participating in the NAACP Economic Development forum at Grace Bible Church on the West Side of Charleston. Reverend Matthew Watts, a “Creative Cone” award winner at the 2008 Create WV Conference, lead the discussion that centered on WV Senate Bill No. 573, which is “relating to providing a procedure for the economic…