The Hub and our partners are receiving more than $7 million from the BBBRC grant that will be leveraged with $2.2 million in matching funds to utilize $9.3 million in funds to launch the Community and Business Resilience Initiative (CBRI).

The Hub is proud to lead the CBRI as one of the four programs of the ACT Now Coalition, building a next-generation economy in southern West Virginia. The Community and Business Resilience Initiative partners include the West Virginia Community Development Hub; The Hive, a program of New River Gorge Regional Development Authority; Advantage Valley; the Southern Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University; and the Northern Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University. The CBRI program builds a three-prong approach that serves as the foundation for successful economic diversification: people, through leadership and business development; planning, through strategic and community resilience planning support; and places, through community and downtown development. 

The CBRI project will include long-term community resilience planning for 16 communities across southern West Virginia through Hub community coaching services, BAD Buildings (brownfields, abandoned and dilapidated) services through the Brownfields Assistance Centers, and small business and entrepreneurial development services for hundreds of businesses across the 21 counties through The Hive and Advantage Valley programs. Program activities are expected to launch in early 2023.

By targeting 16 distressed communities with planning and redevelopment services and providing entrepreneurship and business development support throughout the 21-county target region, the project will create 500 new jobs, 120 new businesses, redevelop 70 buildings & brownfields, and catalyze $10 million in private investment over the next four years.

“Through our work at The Hub, we are constantly inspired by the transformational leadership we see everyday in West Virginia communities. We are excited to launch this new Initiative to continue supporting community and business leaders to grow the State’s economy and build vibrant main streets throughout West Virginia,” said Stephanie Tyree, Executive Director of the WV Community Development Hub. “The Community and Business Resilience Initiative, under the ACT Now Coalition, brings together some of the most innovative and impactful business development, community development and brownfields assistance practitioners in the state to provide wraparound economic and community development services for communities and businesses throughout the project’s multi-county footprint.” 

The Hub and our partners understand the challenges facing distressed communities in the region. Businesses seeking to locate or grow within the distressed communities face unrealistic costs of commercial space renovation and struggle to attract workforce to communities due to a lack of the quality of life and services demanded by an increasingly remote workforce. This reality has left these communities at a continued risk of long-term economic decline and population loss.

The Hub will lead the Initiative focused on building the foundation across rural communities and struggling neighborhoods in southern West Virginia, in order to seed and sustain long-term success of ACT Now Coalition’s community transformation growth cluster. This will happen by working hand-in-hand with nearly 1,000 citizens, entrepreneurs, and municipal leaders across the Coalition’s 21-county region. 

A shift to a more community-ready economy and industry is the next chapter in West Virginia’s economic development strategy. Now is the right time for investments into southern West Virginia communities in the Mountain State. West Virginia is poised to be a global energy leader in renewable and sustainable energy. The ACT Now Coalition is empowering our region to move at the pace of these rapidly changing markets and The Hub is proud to launch this new initiative with our partners, working together to help communities and businesses build the economically vibrant future they envision for our region.