From The Hub – Page 20

The Simple Idea to Turn West Virginia’s Abandoned Historic Buildings Into Revenue Generators

12.01.16

Photo by The Hub

A coalition called Revitalize West Virginia’s Downtowns is launching a campaign to increase the State Historic Tax Credit, in order to spark the redevelopment of West Virginia’s abandoned historic buildings. (Learn more about this campaign at revitalizewvdowntowns.com.)

This broad coalition of economic development professionals, architects, developers, community developers, city officials and historic preservationists is asking the West Virginia Legislature to increase West Virginia’s uncompetitive 10 percent historic rehabilitation tax credit to 25 percent, in order to spur private investment, create jobs, repurpose vacant and underutilized buildings, and provide West Virginia with a positive return on investment.

Increasing our historic rehabilitation tax credit to 25 percent would spur private investment, create jobs and repurpose vacant and underutilized buildings.

West Virginia has an abundance of historic buildings that aren’t meeting their economic potential.

The state has 92 registered historic districts categorized as either commercial or mixed-use. That means that these districts include potentially income-producing properties that would be eligible for the proposed increased historic rehabilitation tax credit of 25 percent.

In these 92 registered historic districts, there are 14,805 contributing buildings.

To put that in perspective, 87 buildings were redeveloped from 2002 to 2015 using the current 10 percent tax credit. That’s less than 1 percent of the buildings in West Virginia’s commercial and mixed-use historic districts.

West Virginia’s historic districts are underutilized assets, waiting to be leveraged.

These historic districts are assets waiting to be leveraged.

The beauty is that these assets are found in almost every area of the state. Sixty-seven cities and towns have one or more mixed-use or commercial registered historic districts.

With the current 10 percent tax credit, developers have rehabilitated buildings in only 25 of these 73 communities:

Ashland	Gerradstown	Morgantown	Thomas
Charles Town	Harpers Ferry	Old Fields	Wardensville
Charleston	Hillsboro	Parkersburg	Weirton
Clendenin	Hinton	Princeton	Wheeling
Elkins	Huntington	Ronceverte
Fairmont	Lewisburg	Shepherdstown
Fayetteville	Martinsburg	Spencer

This means that 48 communities are missing out:

Alderson	Clarksburg	Mount Hope	Shinnston
Arthurdale	Dailey	Nellis	Sistersville
Aurora	Darkesville	New Martinsville	Sophia
Barboursville	Grafton	Pence Springs	St. Albans
Beckley	Harrisville	Philippi	Sutton
Berkeley Springs	Hedgesville	Point Pleasant	Sweet Springs
Bethany	Kingwood	Pratt	Union
Beverly	Mannington	Ravenswood	Welch
Bluefield	Matewan	Richwood	Wellsburg
Bramwell	Middlebourne	Ripley	West Union
Buckhannon	Moorefield	Rowlesburg	Weston
Buffalo	Moundsville	Salem	Williamson

With an increase in the West Virginia Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit to 25 percent, the remaining 48 communities will have a higher likelihood of attracting private investment and harnessing the economic potential of their historic districts.

Learn more about the campaign to increase the state historic tax credit at revitalizewvdowntowns.com.

nicole-marrocco

Two Years Later, All Aboard Grafton a Lasting Legacy of The Hub’s Work

11.21.16

All Aboard Grafton, Nov. 2016. Photo by The Hub

You might not know it, but this is a photograph of hope.

It’s a photograph of determination. And of commitment, And of passion.

This is a photograph of West Virginians refusing to let the present and the future just happen to them.

I took this photo a few Thursdays ago, when The Hub staff and board spent a couple of days in the small city of Grafton, in Taylor County.

“We wouldn’t be meeting today, or any of the days we have met, if not for The Hub.”

The Hub has been working with the people of Grafton since 2014, which is when the people of that city decided they wanted some help making positive change however they could, and became one of the first Turn This Town Around communities.

In Grafton, just like in the many other cities and towns across the state we have helped, The Hub didn’t come in with a magic wand and a million dollars. We didn’t parachute a Buffalo Wild Wings into the main street, and we didn’t just tell the people there what they wanted for their community. We asked them.

Far more powerfully, we showed the people of Grafton how to organize themselves, how to make plans and follow them, and how to recognize the assets they already had.

If The Hub has helped you or your community over the years, now is the perfect time to give thanks. Click here to make a small donation.

We empowered them to create their own future, and not to just accept one prescribed for them by outside forces who, well-meaning though they may be, aren’t going to still be in that community six months from now, 10 years from now, who aren’t going to grow up and grow old in that community, who aren’t going raise families there.

This photograph, above, is what this empowerment looks like. It’s a photograph of All Aboard Grafton.

The backbone of All Aboard Grafton is regular weekly meetings, just like this one. There’s no great trick to it – just a group of interested locals in a room together, sharing information about things that are happening in their community, and making plans.

It doesn’t sound particularly life-changing, does it? But you’d be surprised.

As simple an idea as this may seem, a regular meeting of locals is one of the most critical things a community can do in order to make good things happen where they live.

The creation of All Aboard Grafton is one of the lasting legacies of The Hub’s work there. It came about after we introduced local leaders in Grafton to our friends in Buckhannon who had just launched a similar initiative – Create Buckhannon.

Like Create Buckhannon, All Aboard Grafton has now created the necessary civic infrastructure for locals to create new things in the main street, throw events, cooperate, and to find funding and resources for big plans.

You can make a contribution to continue The Hub’s work, quickly, easily and online!

These kinds of connections are one of the many ways The Hub works to put local people in a position to decide what their community will look like. And it works.

“The Hub showed us how to talk with each other, how to work with each other,” says Tom Hart, one of the many locals behind All Aboard Grafton. “We wouldn’t be meeting today, or any of the days we have met, if not for The Hub.”

It’s why one of our slogans is Change, by you. (Not change, by us. Or, worse still, change, by them.)

As a Hub staff member, working every day to empower West Virginians to make great things happen in their communities is one of the things I’m thankful for this November.

If you are thankful for help The Hub has provided your community over the years, or just you personally, now is the perfect time to give thanks. You can make a contribution to continue The Hub’s work, quickly, easily and online!

And thanks.

Jake-Lynch

Five Finalists Advance to the Bucks for Bright Ideas Funding Competition

11.21.16

Our five IAS communities have put their best foot forward and in a pool of amazing ideas, the best five have risen to the top.

It is now time to announce the five finalists for the Bucks for Bright Ideas Funding Competition:

Alderson’s Strategic Riverfront Enhancement Plan: This plan includes enhancing and repairing riparian zones to reduce erosion and beautify the riverbank, development of a walking trail that connects both sides of the river, a redesign of river access points, signage design, and connection to existing and planned town assets.

Lincoln County’s Small Farm Cluster: This plan is to develop a regional agricultural business cluster to spur the transformation of the local, small-farm agricultural sector toward increasing market share, developing new, alternative products, and allowing for greater cooperation among local farmers.

They will each be giving presentations at the IAS Regional Development Workshop on December 1st at the Raleigh-Beckley Convention Center.

Lincoln County’s Welcome Center: This plan is to establish a permanently hosted welcome center in Hamlin at the Friends of the Arts building. This location is donated space and volunteers have been identified to staff the location.

Madison’s Coal Ridge Trail: This plan is to build a combination hiking & biking trail and incorporate it with a cross country track for the local middle and high schools to promote health & wellness and offer a place for the community to walk, hike & bike and encourage new business in the area.

Wyoming County’s RC Track Project: This project involves the development of a professional grade Remote Controlled Race Track which would be a positive economic tool for the county and region and would provide an educational opportunity for our youth and young adults.

Congratulations to all our finalists! They will each be giving presentations at the IAS Regional Development Workshop on December 1st at the Raleigh-Beckley Convention Center. The crowd will vote on which project they like best.

The team that gets the most votes will win $5000, second place will win $2000 and third place will win $1000.

If any of these projects sound like something you’d like to get involved with, feel free to register for the IAS Regional Development Workshop or contact IAS Director, Dan Taylor, at d.taylor@wvhub.org

Stay tuned to The Hub Blog in the next two weeks for a more detailed look at each of these projects.

With Partisan Shifts Grabbing the Attention, a Quieter Trend Emerges in New WV Legislature

11.14.16

Photo by West Virginia Legislature/Facebook

As Jake Lynch noted in our first election post last week, not all West Virginians are represented equally within the West Virginia Statehouse. Which is why it is imperative that we work to make the political process more accessible to all people.

In response to the November 8 General, we decided to take a look at the demographics of the newly elected 2017 West Virginia Legislature. Let’s dive in.

The percentage of the legislature compromised of West Virginians aged 18 – 34 has now more than doubled.

The 2017 legislature will include 16 members under the age of 34, almost 12 percent of the legislature. However, one other underrepresented group saw their situation worsen.

This age group accounts for approximately 20 percent of West Virginia’s population, but prior to the November 8 election held less than 5 percent of seats in legislature.

That imbalance has been addressed somewhat. The 2017 legislature will include 16 members under the age of 34, almost 12 percent of the legislature.

However, one other underrepresented group saw their situation worsen.

Women comprise 51 percent of West Virginia’s total population, yet they account for a mere 12.6 percent of the 2017 Legislature.

Fourteen female delegates were elected to the House of Delegates in this latest election, which equates to 14 percent of the 100 member lower-legislative body, a drop from the 2014 election.

Women comprise 51 percent of West Virginia’s total population, yet they account for a mere 12.6 percent of the 2017 Legislature.

In the West Virginia Senate, 3 female representatives were elected, equating to 8.8 percent of the 34 person upper-legislative chamber.

(While female representation in the Senate remains low, it’s the highest it’s been since 2004. Female representation was highest in the West Virginia Senate in 1988, when 6 women were elected to the chamber.)

Senator Elect Patricia Rucker, a Republican from District 16, is one of the three women to join the upper chamber and is also a first generation American. Senator Elect Rucker immigrated to the United States in 1981 from Caracas, Venezuela.

We Should Celebrate Everyone Who Runs For Office. And Here’s Why.

11.09.16

Photo by Federico Astica/FlickrCC

Elections are an enormously energizing, exciting moment when you live in a country that so passionately embraces the ideas and values of democracy.

It takes an enormous amount of courage to run for elected office – any kind of elected office – whether it be for a position on a local school board or for a seat in the state legislature.

It’s much easier to not run, to not put yourself out there. But to make your passions visible, and to commit your own time, energy and, sometimes, money to act on them, well, that takes gumption. And democratic nations like America rely on there being enough of these courageous, hopeful people, willing to stand up and give it a shot.

It’s much easier to not run, to not put yourself out there. But to make your passions visible, well, that takes gumption.

So, to everyone who ran for elected office this campaign season, win or lose, thank you. (And don’t forget to collect all those yard signs, please.)

The Hub has a favorite saying that we offer to the communities we work in, big and small, to help them understand the key ingredient to making positive change: “The world is run by those who show up.”

Whether it be at a community meeting room at 6 p.m. on a wintery Tuesday evening, or at the polling booth on election day, it is those people that show up and raise their hand that give themselves the chance to be heard.

If you aren’t at that meeting, it doesn’t matter if you have the best ideas in the world.

Our democracy works the same way. The world is run by those who run (for office, that is.)

The great news is that there are so many positions in your community and your state that need willing and passionate citizens to fill them.

And you don’t have to wait every four years! I can almost guarantee you there is an open seat somewhere in your community – an elected office serving the public that is just waiting for a terrific citizen like you to step up.

And these are roles that make real decisions, real change, local change.

School board members, county commissioners, parks and recreation commissioners, city councilors, state delegates and representatives… these are just some of the elected positions that are filled by everyday West Virginians just like you.

Running for office is one of the most powerful statements of citizenship that any West Virginian can make.

Moms, dads, teachers, retirees, unemployed people, students, executives, factory workers… you get the picture. Just people. People who one day decided that they wanted to have some control over the decisions that affect their day to day lives.

West Virginia needs more people willing to stand up. Many elected offices go uncontested each year. And, to use our state legislature as an example, not all West Virginians are represented equally in these positions of power. Just 15 percent of seats in the state legislature are held by women (who make up 51 percent of the population), and less than 3 percent by people of color (who make up more than 6 percent.)

In celebration or in protest, to fight for great ideas, to take control of your little slice of the world, to be responsible, to steer the ship, to help create a better world for the people you love, to act upon the very principles that created America in the first place; running for office is one of the most powerful statements of citizenship that any West Virginian can make.

And we are grateful for those that do.

Jake-Lynch

It Feels Great to Say Thanks. Give That Itch a Scratch!

11.08.16

It feels great to say “thanks,” doesn’t it?

With Thanksgiving approaching, November is a wonderful time of year to take a moment and appreciate the people that are important in your life.

It’s also a great time to say thanks to those you see working hard to make a positive difference in your community.

Over the past year, The Hub has dedicated thousands of hours working alongside West Virginia’s communities most in need of a helping hand.

We’ve spent those hours in the meeting halls, main streets and homes of communities all around the state, helping people build a better future for the hometowns that they love.

Why do we do it? Because we believe that when these communities come calling for help, there should be someone there to answer that call.

If you have felt or appreciated The Hub’s efforts, now is the perfect time to say a little “thanks.”

For as little as $5, you can show your appreciation to an organization that works hard everyday to help West Virginia’s communities take hold of their future.

Visit our new donation page at wvhub.org,
and show your thanks.

As a reminder of all the terrific people, organizations and successes we have to be thankful for, check out The Hub Blog for a collection of stories of creativity, passion and progress from around West Virginia.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving season. And, thanks!

Jake-Lynch

“We Don’t Care About Your Party”: The Surprising Truth Behind What’s Really Motivating Young WV Voters

11.07.16

Image courtesy Generation West Virginia.

On the eve of Election Day, a survey of young West Virginians has revealed that they are much more interested in a candidate’s positions on specific policies than his or her party affiliation.

Generation West Virginia, a statewide organization whose mission is to strengthen efforts to attract, retain, and advance young talent, released its Young Voter Report last week, highlighting the issue priorities of young West Virginians and what motivates their civic engagement.

Among the notable findings of the research was that 88 percent of respondents “moderately or strongly agree a candidate’s issue positions influence their vote more than party affiliation.”

The youth vote in West Virginia threatens to carry increasing weight in this election and in elections to come, with Generation West Virginia and Inspire West Virginia doing a great job of boosting voting activity among young people.

Along similar lines, 48 percent of “young voters consider themselves outside the traditional two-party categories of “conservative” and “progressive.”

We hope that these findings give notice to candidates and elected officials that any politician that puts towing the party line ahead of responding properly to the concerns and hopes of their constituents does so at their own peril.

“In order for West Virginia to better attract, retain, and advance young talent, we must also be a state that listens to and truly values the interests and motivations of those we seek to attract and retain,” Generation West Virginia’s Executive Director Natalie Roper writes in her introduction to the report.

At the top of that list of interests is, naturally, opportunities for education. More than one third of respondents identified it as a top issue, mentioning specifically the quality of public K-12 education, access to, and investment in, higher education, and concerns of rising student debt.

More than one third of respondents identified education as a top issue.

The youth vote in West Virginia threatens to carry increasing weight in this election and in elections to come, with organizations such as Generation West Virginia and Inspire West Virginia doing a great job of boosting voting activity among young people.

Almost 70,000, or 25 percent of West Virginians ages 17-29, turned out to vote in the 2016 primary. Of the 27 states providing young voter data, West Virginia ranked eighth highest in young voter turnout in the 2016 primaries, surpassing our surrounding states of Virginia (18 percent), Ohio (23 percent), North Carolina (24 percent), and Pennsylvania (18 percent).

Jake-Lynch

Learning to Love the Riverfront: Fairmont Looks to Big Brother Pittsburgh For Planning Ideas

11.02.16

Photo by Riverlife.

There’s no denying it: Pittsburgh has got it going on. And I’m not talking about the Steelers.

Anyone who visits The City of Bridges these days encounters a vibrant, bustling city with tons of creative energy, strong local businesses and a powerful tourism scene.

The way the riverfront area is organized and smartly developed has a lot to do with why the city feels like a good place to be, whether you’re a local or a visitor.

Does our own fine city of Fairmont have this same feeling, of energy and human activity along it’s waterfront? No, it doesn’t. At least not yet.

Does our own fine city of Fairmont have this same feeling, of energy and human activity along it’s waterfront? No, it doesn’t. At least not yet.

For Pittsburgh, it wasn’t always like this. Even just a few short decades ago, Pittsburgh was doing a pretty good job of living up to the less generous moniker that many West Virginians used to describe the place.

Pittsburgh’s vast improvement was no accident.

The good news for us here in West Virginia is that we can learn from how they did it, and replicate what they did.

Riverlife is a nonprofit advocacy organization that has worked for the past 17 years to transform Pittsburgh’s riverfronts from industrial zones to thriving, mixed-use communities, complete with trails and riverfront parks.

The new Pennsylvania Waterfront Tax Credit could be a good model for West Virginia to emulate in order to stimulate better waterfront development.

On November 2, Riverlife and the Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center hosted a workshop in Fairmont to support ongoing riverfront efforts in Marion County, such as the Palatine Park upgrades, and to help locals identifying sticking points or road blocks for individual projects where Riverlife’s past experiences with planning, fundraising, and implementation can help.

They also introduced folks to the new Pennsylvania Waterfront Tax Credit, which could be a good model for West Virginia to emulate in order to stimulate better waterfront development.

If you’re interested in learning more, email Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center Redevelopment Specialist Kate Greene at kate.greene@mail.wvu.edu.

Jake-Lynch

Rail-Trail Idea Builds Momentum in Wyoming County – Planning Team Members Needed!

10.31.16

Raising support for big ideas in Wyoming County.

Innovation Acceleration Strategy (IAS) sector teams are flourishing in Alderson, Lincoln County, Madison, McDowell County, and Wyoming County as we all prepare for the IAS Regional Development Workshop on December 1.

The Wyoming Transportation team formed quickly at the first IAS meeting. Local resident Matthew Allen has great plans for an abandoned rail line throughout the county just waiting to be capitalized on for economic and community development, by converting it into a rail-trail.

With an engineering background, Matthew started mapping the routes right away and researched possible partners and grant funding opportunities. I joined his team because I saw this as a great opportunity for the West Virginia Physical Activity Network to offer resources and add capacity to his project.

“We are focusing on a pedestrian trail that will highlight who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.”

The rail-trail idea has great promise in Wyoming County by bringing in visitors to explore what could hopefully be a part of the National Coal Heritage Area, but also would help improve the health of residents of Wyoming County. They would be able to take advantage of safe routes to school and work via the rail-trail, and increase their leisure time physical activity because they would have a safe place to run, walk, bike, and roller-skate.

Are you interested in recreation or tourism? Are you interested in improving the health of the residents in Wyoming County? Are you interested in improving economic and community development in Wyoming County? If so, we would love for you to join the team studying the rail-trail project and other transportation initiatives in Wyoming County.

“We are focusing on a pedestrian trail that will highlight who we were, who we are, and who we want to be,” says Matthew, the group’s fearless leader.

In conjunction with pushing for a rail-trail and water trail development, the team has also formed a ‘Guyandotte River Triathlon Subcommittee’ because we recognize that community buy-in will be crucial in the beginning stages of development of these bigger, longer term projects.

The rail-trail idea has great promise in Wyoming County by bringing in visitors to explore what could hopefully be a part of the National Coal Heritage Area.

A triathlon would generate funds to supplement rail-trail development. More than that it would serve as an opportunity for Wyoming County residents to get invested and excited about the promise of safer opportunities to be physically active and for visitors to come and see the beautiful assets that already exist in Wyoming County (and hopefully keep them coming back.)

If you would like any more information we’d love to talk to you! You can email Matthew Allen at allen@andassoc.com or call me at 606-344-2038.

We hope you will join us for our next meeting at 5 p.m. on Nov. 3 at the Wyoming County branch of Southern Community and Technical College, 128 College Drive Saulsville.

Also, feel free to ‘like‘ our Facebook page where we share updates, ideas, and upcoming events.

Boone and Kanawha County Workshops – The Power of a Simple Story

10.25.16

Photo by DaveBleasdale/FlickrCC

It was great to sit down with some of the folks working hard in the nonprofit and social services sector in Kanawha and Boone counties this past week, as part of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation’s training workshops for prospective grantees.

We’ve been talking about how these small organizations and grassroots groups can quickly and easily use a blog to tell the great stories of the work they do.

Remember folks, don’t get freaked out by what “blogging” really means.

Remember folks, don’t get freaked out by what “blogging” really means.

A blog is just a space on your computer – much the same as a word document or a text file – where you can write down something about the things that are happening in your community or organization.

A couple of button clicks, a little picture in there, and, hey presto, you’ve got yourself a blog post. And now it’s on facebook. And now it’s on Twitter. And now you can email it to your partners. And now it’s on your website. And now… well, you get it.

Once you make a blog post, you can give your story wings!

As promised, here’s a copy of my presentation. Print it out, use it however you need to.

And, don’t forget to share your stories with me! The Hub is always eager to blast your success stories and calls to action out to the rest of West Virginia. People out there are desperate to hear from you.

Stay in touch.

Jake-Lynch