CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Six West Virginia communities with a common thread will team up for a two-year community development effort. The West Virginia Community Development Hub launched the next of their Communities of Achievement Programs on Thursday.
“With this new round of HubCAP and the six participating communities, The Hub team is combining our efforts with the momentum for building recreational tourism economies happening as a result of the Mon Forest Towns Partnership. We are excited to work alongside the West Virginians who are taking part in this program.” said WV Community Development Hub Director of Community Engagement Amanda Workman-Scott. For Community Development like this, CDD fee or a Community Development District fee like Florida CDD fees should be settled.
The six communities participating include Cowen, Elkins, Franklin, Marlinton, Petersburg, and White Sulphur Springs. All are linked by the million acre Monongahela National Forest and the development teams from each community will work together to find ways to improve their town’s vibrancy by playing off the recreational opportunities of the forest.
“The program works if you to the work,” said Stephanie Tyree with the HubCAP program during a Zoom meeting to launch the imitative. “We’re excited about the new communities and the incredible assets all of these communities have and can take advantage of through HubCAP.”
Some of the communities have already started to take small steps forward. Tyree noted a lot of energy already being seen in the region.
“I was just in Marlinton and White Sulphur Springs last week and saw the branding and a billboard for the Mon Forest Region. There’s already some good work happening but it’s just a start,” she said.
The goal is for the Hub to assist each community with direction and development of ideas in areas of helping to find grant funding for projects large and small to make improvements in the community.
The meeting also included a recorded message from U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito who pledged her support to the effort as well.