What is in the works with the new DARRE downtown revitalization program?

BY RAY MOELLER, WV BROWNFIELDS ASSISTANCE CENTER; EMILY WILSON-HAUGER, WOODLANDS DEVELOPMENT & LENDING; AND STACY THOMAS, WV COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT HUB

The Appalachian Regional Commission recently announced the 2021 POWER grant awards, including Downtown Appalachia: Revitalizing Recreational Economies (DARRE), a partnership between the WV Northern Brownfields Assistance Center, Woodlands Development & Lending, Partner Community Capital (formerly Natural Capital Investment), and the WV Community Development Hub. DARRE brings together numerous partners throughout the state and region to undertake a deliberate and concentrated approach to supporting the development and revitalization of historic downtowns. 

We and our partners will provide support and professional services to eight gateway communities: Cowen, Elkins, Franklin, Marlinton, Parsons, Petersburg, Richwood, and White Sulphur Springs. These communities are also part of the Mon Forest Towns Partnership, a partnership that supports Monongahela National Forest gateway communities to enhance the economy and quality of life for residents and visitors.

The partners working on DARRE are building on work started by – and still ongoing – through The Mon Forest Towns Partnership. Activities happening through DARRE will work in support of communities reaching their goals as outlined in the newly adopted Mon Forest Towns Partnership strategic plan, including specifically the “Create a downtown experience that recreationalists would enjoy” goal. Visit https://monforesttowns.com/ to learn more about the Partnership’s work.

Downtown areas in these communities have rich histories and characters. However, they are all in very different states of activity. Additionally, each downtown building is unique and the path to redevelopment will not look the same for any two buildings. DARRE will bring effective inventories, tools, partners, and prioritization to these communities over the next three years, laying the groundwork for several completed projects in the long-term – projects that will serve as catalysts to holistic and sustainable downtown redevelopment. Connecting entrepreneurs with available downtown spaces and potential developers with building projects will bring visible impact to downtown environments. The partners working on the DARRE program will support the participating towns with the kinds of technical assistance that makes their downtowns “development ready,” including:

  • Downtown property inventories that are up-to-date, comprehensive, and fully informed; 
  • Attractive and informative property detail sheets and take-away materials provided for “Opportunity (Developer) Tours” to showcase the properties;
  • Analysis of downtown business diversity; 
  • Identification and vetting of primary redevelopment targets; 
  • Optimal building reuse and feasibility planning; 
  • Ideal redevelopment project opportunities strategized and financially planned to be ready for proposals.


The more people problem-solving and coalescing around shared goals a
nd visions, the more likely opportunities will arise from difficult projects, and they will move toward redevelopment and downtowns will be revitalized.

The DARRE program will allow numerous organizations to continue working together and build new partnerships, each in their area of expertise and strength to bring maximum benefit to the communities and achieve the best results. The Northern Brownfields Assistance Center at WVU will directly support inventories, business needs analyses, predevelopment technical assistance needs identification and deployment, partnership engagements, Opportunity Tour facilitation, and will assure city, community, property owner, and partner communications. The Brownfields Assistance Center at WVU has over five years of experience deploying the Downtown Appalachia program and many years providing brownfield redevelopment-related services. 

Woodlands Development & Lending is a Community Development Corporation and Community Development Financial Institution with experience developing affordable housing, redeveloping downtown buildings, assisting downtown building owners, and assisting with community facilities development and community planning efforts, as well as providing small business technical assistance and lending capital to start-up and growing small businesses. Woodlands will continue its existing work in the region with partners (including its successful Mon Forest Business Initiative), and will help connect projects, entrepreneurs, and building owners to new resources and partners. 

The WV Community Development Hub has actively worked in all eight of these communities in the last three years in our community coaching programs. The Hub will continue to serve as a connector and convener, utilizing existing relationships with community members and community teams to assist communities in realizing their goals for thriving downtown and recreational economies. Each community will work with a community coach to help foster community engagement, develop partnerships and relationships, conduct business surveys, and host community events in relation to the development work. 

The goal is to truly work alongside each community and supplement the area’s inherent strengths. Similarly, we will draw upon the varied and valued strengths of the impressive partnerships that have been aligned for this challenging effort. Make no mistake, the challenge is real and this is a unique strategy to employ in addressing it, one requiring all shoulders at the wheel. 

The goal for DARRE is to support the energy, planning, and work taking place in each community and complement it by bringing additional expertise and resources to downtown redevelopment. DARRE isn’t a one-size-fits-all checklist but should help further the priorities for these eight communities. It is a relationship-based, dynamic, grassroots collaboration that includes all voices, creatively problem-solves, and uses the tools and resources at its disposal to take deliberate steps towards a long-term vision. Simply put, this program will bring strategic partners together to work with communities on their redevelopment journey.  

The DARRE program will officially launch in the Spring of 2022. In the meantime, if you have questions, please reach out to Stacy Thomas at s.thomas@wvhub.org or Kaycie Stushek at k.stushek@wvhub.org.  

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Partner Feature:

Our work is made possible thanks to incredible partnerships with other community development organizations across the state. From local economic development authorities (EDAs) to state level nonprofits working to uplift communities, all of our partners are crucial in making West Virginia the best it can possibly be by working together.One partner that made our work truly profound this year is Coalfield Development. For years, Coalfield Development has worked to rebuild Appalachian communities by inspiring the courage to grow, activating the creativity to innovate, and cultivating communities of opportunity in central Appalachia.We are proud to be part of Coalfield Development’s ACT Now Coalition, a broad network of organizations working hand-in-hand to uplift communities throughout Southern West Virginia. The ACT Now Coalition is infusing more than $63 million into programs to help communities using business development, building revitalization, and so much more.The Hub is leading the Community and Business Resilience Initiative as part of the larger ACT Now Coalition to bring other partners with us to build up community and business resilience in the Coalition’s footprint.“For decades, we’ve known the economy of southern West Virginia needs diversification. Some progress has been made on this goal, but not nearly enough,” Brandon Dennison, CEO of Coalfield Development, said about the ACT Now Coalition. “ACT Now constitutes a tangible opportunity to take a major leap forward in this generational challenge to become a vibrant, growing, diversified economy. In the wake of continued coal-job losses, nothing could be more important for our region.”Our partnership with Coalfield Development is giving us a chance to take our work to new communities and to build upon our years of experience. Working alongside Coalfield Development in this large undertaking to bring $63.8 million to communities in Southern West Virginia is validation that the work happening to uplift West Virginia communities continues to grow.

Community Feature:

The Hub works alongside communities across West Virginia coaching community teams as they come together to make transformative changes in their towns. In 2022, one town stands out for its continued work and unwavering commitment to making its community a place where people want to live, work, play, and visit.Petersburg, located in Grant County at the northernmost point of the Mon Forest, is filled with community members who want to make their town a destination. Not only have businesses opened, and stayed open, the town has transformed the way they present to the world through rebranding and outdoor recreational development.As part of the HubCAP IV program, Petersburg utilized its technical assistance to push forward with projects to bring transformative change to its community. Part of the work Petersburg worked towards was creating plans to pave a hike and bike trail that runs along the Petersburg dike. The proposed trail will run approximately three miles along the Petersburg dike and will include multiple entrances for walkers and bikers. The group secured a $25,000 grant from Senator Hamilton, which was matched locally by the City of Petersburg, the County Commission, and the Board of Education, each adding an equal share to bring the total to $50,000.This year, Petersburg witnessed a major upgrade to one of the town’s most iconic and historic structures: The Hermitage Inn. The hotel, which dates back to 1841, has been renovated and once again welcomes guests to stay the night and have a nice dinner in the restaurant.The Hermitage Inn is the first project initiated and completed as part of the Downtown Appalachia: Revitalizing Recreational Economies (DARRE) program. Seeing the old hotel returned to its majesty has been an incredible development for Petersburg adding another jewel to the downtown area.Seeing Hub communities come together to create transformative change thrills us. Community members are the subject matter experts on what their towns need. Our commitment to accompaniment and walking alongside communities as they do the hard work guides us in our work. Celebrating their victories with them gives us a moment to uplift those making the work happen.

DEI Journey:

Since 2018, The Hub has been working diligently to bring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into our work. For years, the organization has been working internally to expand on one of our core values: “We believe diversity creates strength.”We believe that now is a time when we must work from the ground up to commit to long-term efforts to build power through leadership development, programmatic strategies, and partnerships that commit to building power and advancing racial equity.Looking back at our organizational history, we acknowledge that our work in rural communities with populations of less than 15,000 has not reached a diverse cross-section of people in West Virginia. Because of this, we began to ask, “Who isn’t here?” when examining our involvement in communities. The social unrest in 2020 led us to examine our role in white supremacy, ableism, classism, and gender discrimination, and the ways we have perpetuated unjust systems in our communities and across West Virginia.Since 2020, our equity journey has included a staff racial equity learning series, making internal commitments to increasing our hiring and retainment of diverse staff including creating full-time Racial Equity Fellowship and VISTA positions, committing to increased coaching for rural communities of color across the state, and tackling the inherent challenges of advancing equity across the community development field within a highly rural, majority white state where Black and brown leadership has been historically marginalized and under-invested.Our belief in the power of local people to see the value and the potential of their place, and of each other, is at the core of our belief in the potential we have to build power in West Virginia to advance racial equity, inclusion, and accessibility while disrupting systems that have historically excluded some communities.We are committed to engaging in conversations to uplift communities and leaders of color to move from talk to action on why race matters in West Virginia as we work to disrupt these systems. We will support investment in Black-led organizations and rural Black leadership. And we are committed to driving public and private investments into these spaces, both organizational and geographic.

Grafton

A core team led by Unleash Tygart, Inc participated in Opportunity Appalachia, receiving technical assistance to support a community development project located in an Opportunity Zone.

Huntington

Core teams led by Thundercloud, Inc. and the City of Huntington participated in Opportunity Appalachia, receiving technical assistance to support community development projects located in Opportunity Zones.

Charleston

A core team led by Crawford Holdings, LLC participated in Opportunity Appalachia, receiving technical assistance to support a community development project located in an Opportunity Zone.

White Sulphur Springs

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.

Petersburg

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.

Marlinton

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.

Franklin

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.

Elkins

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies. 

A core team led by Woodlands Development Group also participated in Opportunity Appalachia, receiving technical assistance to support a community development project located in an Opportunity Zone.

Cowen

Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies. Read their community case study.

Parsons

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.

New Martinsville

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Read their community case study.

Monticello Neighborhood of Clarksburg

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Watch their community documentary.

Meadow River Valley Region

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Read their community case study.

Lewis County

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.

Kingwood

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.

Smithers

Residents participated in the Cultivate WV program to kickstart community and economy building. Read their community case study.

Montgomery

Residents participated in the Cultivate WV program to kickstart community and economy building. Read their community case study.

Message from our Executive Leadership Team

It has been a year of abundant opportunities and partnerships across the state, and a year that has pushed all of us to work harder, faster, and smarter – together.At The Hub, we say that “the work works when you put in the work.” This means that our approach to community-based development, and individual leadership development, really does transform local communities, especially when we all work together for the same goal, and stay committed to working together for the long haul.In 2023, we continued to be amazed at the local leadership, drive and innovation we saw in communities throughout the state that are building locally-driven development from the ground up. Our network of community leaders, partners and opportunities keeps growing and shows no signs of slowing in 2024!

We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone for being part of the larger Hub community as we reflect on this year’s deep impact in West Virginia communities through our work. We are thrilled to have champions who believe in our mission that every community in West Virginia can achieve economic growth when they are supported with the tools and training they need to lead and spark positive change.

We believe strongly in the fact that putting in the work yourself to improve your neighborhood, your town, and our state is where true transformational change happens. With strategic partners and thought leaders like you in the work with us, we continue to be able to walk alongside community teams as they do the work to uplift their communities.Thank you to all of the community teams and leaders who are brave enough to keep showing up every day, and putting in thousands of hours of volunteer time to support your communities and the entire state. Your determination in the face of difficult work and far-off successes is something to applaud yourself for – and to celebrate.Whether you’re volunteering on the ground in your community, sharing our stories of hope with your friends and neighbors, or attending a virtual event with The Hub, your participation in our work is what keeps it going. Thank you for all your work and support this past year, and we are excited to continue in the work with you in 2024!In Continued Accompaniment,

– WV Community Development Hub
Executive Leadership Team

Stephanie Tyree

Executive Director

Amanda Workman Scott

Director of Community Engagement

Katie Loudin

Director of Strategic Development