Category: Economic Restructuring

Virginia Main Street Awards Downtown Improvement Grants

April 4, 2014

VMS recently awarded several Downtown Improvement Grants (DIG). These grants, of up to $25,000, help designated Main Street communities tackle special, one-time Main Street-related projects that need additional financial resources to become a reality. The awarded projects have specific economic restructuring outcomes and involve multiple community partners. This year, VMS received 14 competitive applications and … More Virginia Main Street Awards Downtown Improvement Grants

Marion Completes Fifth Round of “Pop Up” Marion Boot Camp

March 31, 2014

By now, you’ve probably heard of the success Marion Downtown! has had with its small business “Pop Up” Boot Camp entrepreneur program. If you have not, you are definitely missing out on all the excitement! “Pop Up Marion” offers up to $5,000 for aspiring downtown entrepreneurs, offsetting startup expenses like rent and utilities for the first … More Marion Completes Fifth Round of “Pop Up” Marion Boot Camp

What is Main Street Worth?

November 19, 2013

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service estimates that in Virginia real property taxes make up an average 57.8 percent of local revenue for cities and 31.2 percent for large towns. How significant a contributor is your Main Street district to this revenue stream? Joseph Minicozzi, the principal of Urban3 LLC, argues in a post on … More What is Main Street Worth?

Bringing New Businesses to Main Street

October 30, 2013

Retaining and growing existing businesses and encouraging the development of new businesses are primary goals of every Main Street organization. Here is how some of Virginia’s Main Street communities are working to strengthen and diversify their downtown business communities. Marion Downtown Revitalization Association (MDRA) is wrapping up the third round of its “Pop-Up Marion” Small Business … More Bringing New Businesses to Main Street

VMS Essentials Workshop in Culpeper Sept. 11-12

August 7, 2013

Sept. 11-12, 2013 The Culpeper Center 137 South Main Street Culpeper, Virginia So, your community is known for a festival or two, and the historic commercial district is showing signs of life? It is time to take the next step. Design and economic restructuring strategies cannot only improve the appearance and vibrancy of your downtown, … More VMS Essentials Workshop in Culpeper Sept. 11-12

Finding Main Street Customers Online

February 25, 2013

By encouraging and cultivating unique, local, independent commercial sectors, retail along Virginia’s Main Streets is on the rise. However, it is a brave new world that Main Streets retailers are operating in. “Capitalism is creative destruction,” Richard Sylla stated in a recent Entrepreneur article. “Old models get outmoded, and new models come in and take over.” Just … More Finding Main Street Customers Online

Embracing Nature, Culture and History: Appalachia’s new economy

January 29, 2013

All across Southwest Virginia, the stories of men and women who worked in mines, furniture factories or textile mills can be read in the buildings you see today. In the coalfields, mining towns and camps sprang up wherever the coal seam led. Miners came from farms nearby, from the deep South and from Eastern Europe … More Embracing Nature, Culture and History: Appalachia’s new economy

Virginia’s Appalachian Trail Communities

October 4, 2012

The Appalachian Trail Community™ designation program is a new program of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, designed to recognize communities that promote and protect the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). The program serves to assist communities with sustainable economic development through tourism and outdoor recreation while preserving and protecting the A.T. Completed in 1937, the 2,180-mile-long Appalachian National Scenic … More Virginia’s Appalachian Trail Communities

Main Street Communities Partnering for Entrepreneur Development

July 17, 2012

This past spring, DHCD’s Virginia Enterprise Initiative awarded six innovation grants to help develop new and innovative techniques for cultivating and assisting micro-entrepreneurs. Three of the awardees (Bristol, Staunton and Waynesboro) are specifically targeting micro-entrepreneur development in their local Main Street districts. Staunton Creative Community Fund, in Staunton, will continue to build off of its strong … More Main Street Communities Partnering for Entrepreneur Development