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Situated on the edge of the Monongahela National Forest, Elkins is the gateway to popular recreational tourism destinations like Seneca Rocks, Spruce Knob, and Smoke Hole Canyon. About 1.3 million visitors come through the Monongahela National Forest each year (as of 2020), and with the growth of Mon Forest Towns like Elkins, that number will only continue to trend upwards in coming years.
Elkins’ downtown arts district feel is ideal for travelers to spend a night or two relaxing in town among one of West Virginia’s favorite coffee shops, TipTop Coffee, a diverse selection of local restaurants, from pub-style to Venezuelan food, art galleries featuring regional artists, and unique, locally-owned shops of all kinds, like The Mossy Merchant and Delmonte Market.
But Elkins didn’t get here overnight. With a population of around 7,000, Elkins is one of the largest and highest-capacity Hub communities to date. Community leaders credit a major turning point of their community development journey to coming together for a priceless learning opportunity.
West Virginia communities of all sizes are engaging in innovative work. Many of these communities exemplify our Rural Community Building Best Practices, guideposts identified through evidence-based research processes. By looking to these communities as models, we can work together to replicate small wins and major successes.
In 2019, Mike Bell, a HubCAP team member and Elkins community leader, brought Quint Studer’s book, Building a Vibrant Community, to the attention of city leaders, including Lisa Wood (Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director) and Anne Beardslee (Elkins-Randolph County Tourism Executive Director). Once reading it, they began spreading the word that they wanted everyone in town to read the book. Some community leaders came together to purchase and donate copies of the book to provide to Elkins residents, and overall, the group was able to hand out 450 books to those eager to get involved.
The book and collective study provided some valuable buy-in from the community, and in early 2020, the team brought Quint Studer to Elkins to teach a workshop on building a vibrant community. The excitement around the workshop helped solidify some major plans for the future of the community and helped build trust among community leaders. “The workshop was a catalyst for creating task forces and inspiring the community that we could collectively move Elkins forward,” said Lisa.
A major way that the community is determined to move Elkins forward is by transforming its riverfront. When Elkins joined the HubCAP IV program in late 2020, the community team decided to focus its efforts on riverfront development and branding.
The Tygart Valley River, which runs directly through Elkins, is largely underutilized and overlooked by the community. The Riverfront Development Plan will reframe the river into a usable asset with walking trails, fishing, kayaking, and recreational activities along the river through collaborations with the City of Elkins, The Hub, and Woodlands Development Group. Phase I of the project will focus on making the riverfront usable to the community with boardwalks, new sidewalks, trails, fishing access, and lighting. Phase II will involve signage and wayfinding, and Phase III will involve trail loops, launches, amenities, and sidewalk connections.
As part of their branding project, the city is addressing wayfinding for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. The team worked with designer Skyler Spence, who was involved in brand development with the Mon Forest Towns initiative to create a Branding Toolkit. The HubCAP team picked several colors and icons that could be used by organizations and businesses throughout the community to help with business identity in marketing materials and signage. The branding toolkit will be used in Elkins’ signage for the Riverfront and is being implemented throughout town. “We hope that the branding toolkit creates a coherent, more impactful representation of who we are and what we offer,” said Mike.
Ultimately, the HubCAP team hopes the Riverfront project will bring more people to downtown Elkins and create new opportunities for different types of businesses (like those that may be more recreation-focused) to be supported by Elkins’ economy, while creating more opportunities for growth for pre-existing businesses by expanding the recreational tourism economy into downtown past the edge of Monongahela Forest.
The Hub isn’t the only organization to take note of Elkins’ success. The new Ascend West Virginia program chose Elkins as its fourth location and is now recruiting out-of-state remote workers to relocate to the area (and is rewarding them with a $12,000 stipend for the move) to help bolster the local economy. This could make a major impact on Elkins because the program has received over 20,000 applicants and resulted in its largest cohort of 87 people moving to Morgantown so far (as well as participants in Greenbrier Valley and the Eastern Panhandle). Because of the push for remote workers to move to the area, the community also prioritized having efficient internet access and broadband. The Elkins and Randolph County area are expecting a $20-25 million investment in broadband infrastructure over the next 2-4 years.
The workshop was a catalyst for creating task forces and inspiring the community that we could collectively move Elkins forward.
To help encourage the community to get involved and share their input on the Riverfront Development project, The Riverfront Task Force successfully launched an online platform to solicit comments and hosted a public input event online. First, the Task Force held a Stakeholder Meeting, then invited townspeople to meet with the development consultants via social media and press releases. Those who couldn’t attend in-person events were given the option of online surveys where they could state what they liked and disliked about the proposed plans, what was missing, and could upload examples of what they would like to see on the riverfront (like, for example, public arts projects).
The people of Elkins are typically quite eager to stay engaged in the goings on of their community and to lend a hand when needed. Three small business owners in downtown Elkins are thinking about the impact their businesses have on their community just as much as they’re thinking about the impact their community has on their businesses. Katie Driver, Emily Prentice, and Nevada Tribble all operate their businesses out of a building that Katie purchased in 2021. Katie owns The Mossy Merchant, an antique store, Emily owns Mycelium, an art supply store, and Nevada is a full-time artist working from her studio. Some of their goals as business owners include providing multi-use community space for the public to enjoy, engaging children and teens in community-building art projects, and building a creator-in-residence program housed in the space.
I grew up here and I want to make Elkins feel like a space where people can stay if they want to.
Elkins has a deep arts and music history, being home to Davis and Elkins College’s Augusta Heritage Center, which has attracted artists and creatives to Elkins for decades. This culture allows for a community where business owners might be tempted to try something a little different than you’d see on a traditional Main Street. The Mossy Merchant owner says she wants to reframe how commercial real estate is used, and this multi-use space (called lovingly by the business owners, the Labyrinth District) is anything but typical, with innovation and creative vision at its core.
Katie is a recent West Virginia transplant who quickly has planted herself as a core business owner and advocate of the community. She moved to Elkins from Colorado in 2020 when her husband (Jeremiah Hyslop) began working with the U.S. Forest Service as the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center Director. “I became extremely passionate about this idea that West Virginia is a hidden gem and that Elkins is a hub and literally is a gateway to the outdoors, and I wanted to invest in that and be part of the framing of that,” said Katie.
There’s still much more to come for the Labyrinth District, as The Mossy Merchant just opened in June 2022, and Emily’s art supply store, Mycelium, in May 2023. There are plans for an outdoor community space to open in the summer, and the group of business owners also plan to host a creator-in-residence program. Makers and innovators will be invited to prototype a product that could be used outdoors, and community members will vote on their favorite product. Then, the winning product would be produced in the building. The product could be something wearable (like a bag), an observation tool, a piece of gear–the options are wide open.
This is one of the easiest places to be a full-time artist. Cost of living is really low and quality of life is high.
There’a a lot happening in Elkins today, and the narrative around young people staying versus moving away is starting to shift. Community members like Katie, Emily, and Nevada want staying in their hometowns or moving to a small town like Elkins to become more normalized. “I grew up here and I want to make Elkins feel like a space where people can stay if they want to,” said Emily. Nevada added that moving back to Elkins from Shepherdstown, WV after college made it possible for her to make a living as an artist. “This is one of the easiest places to be a full-time artist,” said Nevada, “Cost of living is really low and quality of life is high.” The group is also working to promote a safe, diverse, and inclusive environment for all kinds of people. “As a queer person, I want there to be a place in Elkins where you can be out and proud and safe,” said Emily.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.
Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.
Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.
Residents participated in round 4 of The Hub’s capstone Communities of Achievement program with a focus on building local recreational economies.
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.
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.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Read their community case study.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Watch their community documentary.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Read their community case study.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.
Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.
Residents participated in the Cultivate WV program to kickstart community and economy building. Read their community case study.
Residents participated in the Cultivate WV program to kickstart community and economy building. Read their community case study.
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,