Undoubtedly, localities across Virginia rallied their communities around the small businesses at the heart of their downtowns during Small Business Saturday! As commercial districts continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, local Main Street programs have pivoted their traditional #ShopSmall plans or started new traditions to accommodate health and safety guidelines. Let us … More Share Your Story: Tell Us How Your Community Celebrated Small Business Saturday!

In 2020, Bench Consulting & Patronicity, proposed creative ideas for quickly implementable, low cost winter placemaking interventions aimed at driving visitors back to Main Street and encouraging them to stay longer, supporting area restaurants and businesses. Winter Places 2.0 is an update to the guide focusing on project reports from 12-communities across Massachusetts that implemented … More Winter Placemaking for Main Streets & Neighborhoods

Recently, Leverage NC hosted a four-part webinar series, Better Community Planning & Economic Development, led by Ed McMahon, Chair Emeritus of Main Street America and a leading national authority on land use policy and economic development. The series explored the following: Secrets of Successful Communities How the Pandemic is Affecting Real Estate & Land Use … More Better Community Planning & Economic Development

Educational Webinar In November, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) welcomed Nicole Martorana, who has extensive experience in creating meaningful opportunities that connect people through cultural exploration and dialogue, to lead a panel discussion of leaders with experience in celebrating local foodways and shared culinary culture. If you missed the live webinar, … More CCV Series: November 2021 Recap & Additional Resources

Our guest blogger, Zachary Whitlow (pictured left), is a Community Revitalization Specialist at the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), working closely with the agency’s Virginia Main Street (VMS) program and Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI). He loves helping communities across Virginia unleash the power of small-scale, grassroots revitalization to build a sense of place and … More The Vibrancy of Farmville Can’t Be Overstated

Has your rural community / locality struggled to support economic growth and diversification, as well as offer opportunities for people to connect with the natural world? Sponsored by the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), USDA Forest Service and EPA, the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) planning assistance program helps communities identify strategies to grow … More Identifying Strategies to Grow Your Community’s Outdoor Recreation Economy and Revitalize Main Street

In July 2020, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) began working to provide comprehensive capacity building services through the federal Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) to six recipient organizations located in rural and/or economically challenged regions of Virginia. The RCDI program seeks to increase a community’s readiness to undertake community and economic … More Martinsville’s Uptown Partnership Awarded $30,000 Rural Community Development Initiative Grant

The Community Business Launch (CBL) is a place-based entrepreneurial development strategy that fills a critical mass of vacant storefronts with expansion or start-up ventures. Local CBL programs train entrepreneurs, creatives and small business owners about business planning practices, and the training culminates in a group of finalists pitching their ideas to a panel of judges, … More Seven Communities Named 2022 Community Business Launch Grant Recipients

The Virginia Statewide Business District Resurgence Grant (VSBDRG) fund seeks to advance and accelerate the post-pandemic recovery of Virginia’s business and commercial districts. Specifically, these funs will support historically economically disadvantaged communities and other business districts that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Through expanding organizational and business support grants, funding is envisioned to … More 22 Communities Named 2022 Virginia Statewide Business District Resurgence Grant Recipients