Helping small businesses is one of the key ingredients to creating a vibrant downtown! To fully-bake that vision, you will need to employ a comprehensive approach, the Main Street Approach, a framework where strategies are implemented through a broad range of activities that span four areas of work, which includes Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion, and … More Economic Vitality: A Key Ingredient to Creating a Vibrant Downtown

Recently, the Virginia Main Street (VMS) program hosted the second webinar in its new training series that prepares Main Street community champions for the “Switch to Six,” illuminating the new Main Street America Evaluation Framework through stories from across the network. Addressing Standard 2 of the framework, Inclusive Leadership and Organizational Capacity, speaker Dionne Baux, … More Reflection & Opportunity: Inclusive Leadership and Organizational Capacity

Virginia Main Street (VMS) launched a new training series recently that prepares Main Street community champions for the “switch to six,” illuminating the new Main Street America Evaluation Framework through stories from across the network. It is based on best practices for successful Main Street programs and sets a path for growth and development for … More Reflection & Opportunity: Broad-based Community Commitment to Revitalization

Are short term rentals (STR) a topic of conversation in your community? Maybe so, as nationally the STR market is expanding and is poised for further growth.  National League of Cities (NLC) reports as a result of this growth, local leaders have had to grapple with competing benefits and challenges – in particular, how to … More Short-Term Rentals: A Guide to Ensure the Best Outcomes for Your Community

Would your community like to incentivize a new craft beverage business to fill a vacant storefront, much like what Westmoreland County did to recruit a new brewery and pub to downtown Montross? Or how about investing in needed improvements to your farmers market, like the City of Martinsville’s upgrades to the Uptown Martinsville Farmers Market, … More Strengthen Local Food Systems: AFID Infrastructure Grant Program

Governor Glenn Youngkin ceremonially signed House Bill 884 and Senate Bill 195 on June 1, 2022. This new state law aims to create benefits consortiums for Virginia’s small businesses, in addition to nonprofits. According to the governor’s news release, these consortiums allows these entities to come together as a single large pool to offer employees … More Removing Barriers: Expanded Health Care Coverage for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

The colonial port town of Urbanna, located in Middlesex County at the confluence of Urbanna Creek and the Rappahannock River, evolved over a period of more than three centuries. It served as a tobacco port in the 18th century, and a mercantile and commercial fishing center in the 19th. By the 21st century the town … More Celebrating Everything Oyster!

Let us celebrate Black History Month together across Virginia as a community committed to embracing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging! Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community, spaces that can serve all members of the community, tell a fuller American story and promote positive change. Here … More Inspiring Placemaking Projects That Tell a Fuller American Story