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Nominate an outstanding volunteer for a Governor’s Service Award

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

Volunteer West Virginia is now accepting nominations for West Virginia’s most prestigious volunteer award. 

From the organizers:

The Governor’s Service Awards, the state’s most prestigious volunteer award, honors individuals and groups who roll up their sleeves to solve community problems in an innovative way. In recent years, recipients of the award improved their communities in many creative ways. Some examples include: creating an anti-human trafficking campaign; initiating neighborhood activities and support for older citizens; and incubating ideas and enthusiasm for community revitalization projects.

Outstanding West Virginia individuals and groups that are selected as recipients will be honored at a special banquet at the Culture Center in Charleston on September 5th, 2019.

Click here to learn how to nominate a volunteer superstar today.

New community group forms to support veteran well-being in North Central West Virginia

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BY RAE DYER, OWNER, THIS PLACE

West Virginia has over 165,000 veterans. About 10% of our population has served in our armed forces. That is something we can all be proud of. We are patriotic. We support our troops and our veterans in our hearts and words. We honor them in ceremony. We donate to veteran organizations. We thank them for their service, and we mean it. I have always believed that West Virginians want to support veterans the best that they know how to.

I think there is more we can do. If you reside in North Central West Virginia, I’d like to invite you to join me.

I have been to the ceremonies, and events. I have received gratitude. I have benefitted from the VA and other Veteran organizations. I am grateful for the effort of the recognition. But I did not enlist to receive praise, and I am not necessarily comfortable with it. Being differentiated can sometimes cause a feeling of alienation. Sometimes what I prefer is to blend in. To be a part of the whole. In the military we operate as a unit. For the good of the mission. For the benefit of us all. We hold each other accountable. We have each-others’ back. We form a camaraderie that is indescribable to anyone who hasn’t experienced it. As a veteran, it can be empty without it. More than recognition, veterans, like myself, can benefit from regular, authentic encounters, that include accountability and familiar goals.

I’d like to introduce you to Team Red, White and Blue (www.teamrwb.org), and invite you to join us. TeamRWB is a nationwide non-profit organization that was founded by a veteran, for veterans, in 2010, providing support through “…real people, providing authentic support, where they lived” (Smith, 2015).

With a current chapter in Wheeling, and another chapter currently being introduced in North Central West Virginia, we are dedicated to the mission:

“To enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.” (Team Red, White & Blue, 2019)

Those who join TeamRWB will find that it is a simple concept with members comprised of civilians and veterans, alike, of all statures, backgrounds, genders, and ages. The only requirements to join us are that you care about veterans, and that you want to be a part of our community, without judgement.

Our objective is to create a community based on healthy, physical activities and social interactions. No formal meetings with agendas. No ongoing dues or obligation. We simply want to create an avenue in West Virginia for veterans and civilians to be welcome, engaged and supportive to one another.

If you think you’d like to be involved, try it out, become a partner, or learn more, please contact me, Rae Dyer at rdyer@thisplacewv.com, and visit www.teamrwb.org.

Looking for young people turning ideas into action for Generation WV Beacon Awards

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

Do you know a person between the ages of 18-40 who is making a difference in their community, and wouldn’t expect to receive accolades for their hard work? The team at Generation West Virginia has announced the Beacon Awards to shine a spotlight on young West Virginians who are making an impact. The One Foundation is a partner for this new initiative.

Interested in submitting a nomination? Head to Generation WV’s site.

From the organizers:

“Beacon Awardees are those leaders who never anticipated recognition or status. Rather, they support their communities because they know they must. They act from their heart and possess a relentless drive to do whatever is needed for the places and people they care about. The One Foundation and Generation West Virginia both know that systemic change starts with building momentum at all levels, which is why this award is for those who are leading work at all scales, whether it is at the street-, town-, regional- or state-level.

Each year, the West Virginia Beacon Awards will recognize two leaders with a monetary award of $3,000 each to support their work. The remaining four Beacon Awards Finalists will be recognized with a monetary award of $1,000 each.”

Nominees are being selected based on their work as it relates to four principles: locally-focused; social entrepreneurial spirit; generous leadership; and impact in action.

Interested in submitting a nomination? Head to Generation WV’s site.

Video: Stephanie Tyree on Community Connections

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The team at The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation invited The Hub’s Executive Director Stephanie Tyree to be a featured guest on their program, Community Connections. Watch the foundation’s Communications Director Jane Powell interview Stephanie about The Hub’s work in communities across the state – and the importance of supporting the development of new leadership amongst West Virginian residents.

Watch the video…

…or click here to listen to the interview as a Podcast.

“We see the challenges, and we believe we can overcome them” – #ChooseWV campaign shows pride in place

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Image from the #ChooseWV campaign
BY RACHEL RAE DYER, OWNER AND PRESIDENT, THIS PLACE

Hope and pride.

Early last year, the Leadership West Virginia Class of 2018 asked ourselves what our state needed most to be successful. As leaders in our communities, more than 55 of us from around the state, we shared the same understanding – West Virginia is an amazing place, but West Virginians don’t always seem to know it.   

Each year, Leadership West Virginia works to develop and motivate a cross-section of leaders who will use their talents and abilities to inspire others and foster a new spirit of energy, enthusiasm and vitality throughout the state. As part of the program, class participants are challenged to take on a class project of their choosing that will give back to West Virginia. The class meets throughout the program, independently determines their project and then completes it prior to graduation.

The Leadership West Virginia Class of 2018 loves West Virginia to the core. We love the people, the beauty and the opportunity of our great state. We feel strongly that the narrative of West Virginia should belong to West Virginians, and that West Virginians are smart, resourceful, determined and capable of making West Virginia the best version of itself.

We see the challenges, and we believe we can overcome them. We see the opportunity and we want to inspire West Virginians to embrace it and work toward it. For too long we have dwelled on the rankings and the negative media, but they don’t tell the whole story. It may help their ratings to paint a bleak picture of us from the outside, but on the ground and in our communities there are amazing and inspiring successes happening every day that we want to celebrate.

With this in mind, the Choose West Virginia campaign was born as our class project.

As the first phase in a long-term strategic goal, the #ChooseWV video, social media campaign and website were developed as a method to share what is great about the state we love. In addition to providing resources and information about our state, we want to encourage people near and far to show off why they choose West Virginia so others might benefit from all we have to offer.

Our home is a source of pride and hope. Whether you are West Virginia grown but residing elsewhere, a current West Virginian or a potential West Virginian, we want to remind you that this state is beautiful, its people are strong and have grit to overcome challenges, and its future is what we make it.

We love this state. We welcome you to join us. For work. For family. For life.

We hope, like us, you #ChooseWV.

Follow us on Facebook. View our video and learn more at www.choosewv.com, and please share your West Virginia story with us by using the hashtag #ChooseWV.

You can also learn more about Leadership West Virginia at www.leadershipwv.org.

Moorefield High School students dream up inspiring development project

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Moorefield High School students present at a recent Cultivate WV meeting
BY KATHRYN RYAN, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE, THE HUB

What does community development look like in action? Here’s a concrete example: inspiring residents of Moorefield and Cowen are hitting the streets through monthly participation in The Hub’s Cultivate WV program workshops. Meeting attendees include motivated residents like local elected officials, teachers, retirees, and so much more.

One of the groups of people regularly showing up are students. Moorefield High School students are working on a very exciting project – a micro-business and outdoor education center in their town. A community development project like this takes effort and planning, not to mention community support. In order to designate the space, to actually build the units, and to establish the partners that will utilize the space, these students are working hard toward gaining community buy-in and securing financial resources.

The students recently received a $50,000 grant to begin this work!

Check out this article, reprinted here with permission from the Moorefield Examiner, to learn more about this youth-led project that’s building up the Moorefield community toward a creative economic future:

Hardy County Schools Community Development Project Receives Grant
By Jean A. Flanagan
Moorefield Examiner

The empty lot at the corner of Main and Jefferson streets in Moorefield will soon be a flurry of activity. The long-awaited Hardy County Schools Community Development Project moved one step closer to reality with a $50,000 grant from the West Virginia Department of Education’s Division of Technical Education and the Governor’s Economic Initiatives.

Students from Moorefield High School’s Simulated Workplace representing a number of partners made a presentation in Charleston on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The Economic Projects Impacting Communities or EPIC was a competitive process wherein five student-initiated projects received $50,000 each.

The students from MHS included Ally Loften, Haylee Tompkins, Sydney Gribble, Dalton Sothen and KcKinley Keplinger.

“Ally and Haylee have directed a core group,” MHS Simulated Workplace Advisor Mary Catherine Slack said. “They investigated several economically viable projects. They reached out to various organizations and determined the critical needs.”

What the group found was the Potomac Highlands and Eastern West Virginia has no food hubs – no access for the distribution for small farmers or craft food developers.

“Their vision is for a USDA approved food processing facility where students and members of the community can develop recipes and sell locally produced products,” Slack said.

Hardy County’s project involves transforming the vacant lot into a series of five micro-businesses and an outdoor education center for both community and student use. The site will also include a greenhouse and high tunnel that will augment Hardy County Agricultural Education program.

The list of collaborators include the East Hardy High School Pro-Start program, the South Branch Career and Technical Center, the Rubenstein Center, Hampshire High School and Putnam County Career and Technical Center.

Loften and Tompkins were both proud and excited to bring home “the big check” for $50,000. They, along with others in the group, worked long and hard on the inch-thick grant application.

“Mr. Burch said he was surprised the application was completely done by high school students,” Tompkins said. “He had to take it home to read it.”

“We included anything we could think of that we thought would help us get the grant,” Loften said.

Clinton Burch is executive director of the Governor’s Economic Initiative, which partnered with the WVDE to challenge simulated workplace companies across the state to participate in the grant competition. The other winners were in Wetzel, Gilmer, Roane and Putnam counties.

In addition to the EPIC grant, the project has already received funding from the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The Hardy County Commission and the town of Moorefield provided letters of support.

In addition to Slack, MHS Principal Patrick McGregor, Hardy County Schools Superintendent Sheena VanMeter and Secondary Curriculum and CTE Specialist Brad Simmons worked with the students on the project.

The EPIC project must be completed over the next two years and will require participation from local businesses and other organizations.

While Loften and Tompkins are seniors, there are underclassmen who are part of the team and will make sure the project is done. “I wish it could be finished before I graduate,” Loften said.

Exponent Telegram: Amanda Workman helps guide West Virginia communities toward improvements for a better future

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Amanda Workman (far right) meets with Cultivate WV participants from Moorefield, WV
BY STEVE BAUBLITZ FOR THE EXPONENT TELEGRAM

Clarksburg native and Stonewood resident Amanda Workman, director of community engagement with the West Virginia Community Development Hub, has a strong passion for the communities in West Virginia and works hard to see them improve.

“It’s important to me to make it a better state and make it somewhere our kids are going to stay. I want to grow old here, too. You can do a lot of talking, (but) you’ve got to get out and do.”

As director of the hub, Workman works with different communities across the state as a community coach, guiding them to programs and projects that can help them improve internally.

She also focuses on community engagement and how individuals in communities can become involved with moving their towns and cities forward. She has been in her position for five years and said she couldn’t picture doing anything else.

Workman lived in several states for about a 10-year period, none of which she said felt like home…

Read the full story on the Exponent Telegram site »

Chief Jan Rader steps onto international stage

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

Jan Rader, Chief of the Huntington Fire Department – and the first woman to reach the rank of chief for a career department in the State of West Virginia – recently took to the famous TED stage for a talk titled, “In the opioid crisis, here’s what it takes to save a life.”

On her TED speaker page, Chief Rader is described as a “humanitarian warrior” and noted for being one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2018 as well as for her appearances in the Academy-award nominated documentary Heroin(e), directed by West Virginia filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon and released in 2017.

Congratulations to Chief Rader, her innovative teamwork has catapulted her community’s story onto an international stage known as being a place for “ideas worth spreading.”

She spoke at the TEDWomen 2018 conference.

Watch Chief Rader’s TED Talk »

Sandy Turner captures the Spirit of Hinton

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Sandy with a group of young people she is working to support

BY SATHIYAN SIVAKUMARAN, HUBCAP VISTA, THE HUB

Passion for helping to improve the lives of residents is the first step to getting communities onto a positive trajectory. In the case of Hinton, Sandy Turner stands out for her dedication to restoring Camp Summers and her involvement in civic organizations. Sandy is the Director of Camp Summers, and she was presented with the “Spirit of Hinton” award in December 2018 by Hinton’s Mayor Joe Blankenship.

In an article about the award in the Register-Herald, Sandy said:

“Our community has restored the camp, not Sandy Turner. My wish is that any child, who wants to go to camp, can enjoy a quality, safe camping experience while making memories that will last a lifetime… Once they are at camp, the kids can play and interact with other children while experiencing character education, team building and learning leadership skills. Part of the charm of Camp Summers is that it allows kids and adults to be ‘unplugged from the world’ in our rustic setting.”   

To read more about this dedicated community volunteer and the amazing work she has done for Hinton, check out Sandy’s story in the Register-Herald »

A few more photos of Sandy and community members at work!

See how Princeton is creating a business-friendly community

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Mercer Street Historic District in Princeton

BY KAYCIE STUSHEK, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT NETWORK COORDINATOR, THE HUB

Creating and supporting a thriving business-friendly community takes a lot of time, effort, and a 360 degree approach.

In Princeton, multiple community groups, along with members of the The Hub’s Communities of Achievement Program (HubCAP) team have been working together to attract and support new and existing businesses in many different ways. And their hard work and creativity is paying off with multiple new businesses.

Princeton has been making their community a fun, creative, inviting place to live for years, with their events, artwork, and creative spaces attracting people to the area to who support existing and new businesses in the area.

For an in-depth look at Princeton’s efforts, check out this recent post over on the Princeton Renaissance Project site. 

The team has also been hosting regular gatherings for the Grassroots District merchants, and this last one was a special edition where they invited all Mercer Street merchants as well as special guest Barbara Wyckoff to give a talk about best business practices, and identify business needs in order to target efforts to assist them. The goal was to continue to unite the downtown business community & empower the merchants with support. The support started with a new business, Bucha Brewhouse & Bistro, who provided a wonderful meal.

Community leader Lori McKinney said, “It was a great night, we provided peer to peer support; ways we could support and cross pollinate; cooperative marketing, open houses and more.”

There will be many more merchants gatherings to come, and the team invites all to join.

In order to promote the available, usable spaces in the community, the HubCAP team is partnering with the Grassroots District, Princeton Renaissance Project, and two local businesses to host their next Developer’s Tour on Nov. 27th. The goal is attract new investors and entrepreneurs in the neighborhood by featuring some exciting projects that are underway, and showcase some spaces that are ripe for development.

Join the Developer’s Tour: