CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A statewide organization serving nonprofits brought Appalachian community leaders, federal partners, and entrepreneurs together for a partnership-building event in the Capital City Wednesday.
The West Virginia Community Development Hub hosted the Impact Forum at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and Glenville State University.
West Virginia Community Development Hub Executive Director Heather Foster said the event was all about building connections to propel projects forward.
“We’re partnering with the USDA and others to really connect the dots between those communities who’ve been doing a lot of planning work and visioning for their community, with those available resource providers,” Foster said.
She said representatives from 12 federal agencies were on hand, holding one-on-one meetings with individual community teams. She added that state agencies, private philanthropy, and investment companies took part in the forum to help West Virginia communities get what they need to grow and boost the economy for the future.
West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner joined the forum. He said the Secretary of State’s Office will be managing the new West Virginia Office of Entrepreneurship starting July 1, which underscored the importance of attending the forum.
“This is about lifting community voices up, and then connecting those voices with resources,” Warner said. “If one community needs a coffee shop, and they need to be connected to resources. The folks that are here today are going to make sure that that happens.”
“We’re just here to make those connections and let people know what the new Office of Entrepreneurship is all about,” he added.
Warner said he pushed for the Office of Entrepreneurship’s creation during the last legislative session. He noted that it passed the House of Delegates, the state Senate, and Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed off on it.
“What you’ve got here is a couple hundred people from around West Virginia, all involved in their own ways, to help build their communities, make their communities stronger,” Warner said. “Those voices need to be heard; they need to share what’s going on in one community that’s successful with another community that might be trying to do the same thing.”
“This is really our smaller communities, our rural communities, and quite frankly, that’s what the Office of Entrepreneurship is going to help.” Warner continued. “It’s smaller businesses figuring out what the barriers are to entry and what the barriers to success are.”
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Regional Administrator Jim Spencer was also on hand. The former Bluefield West Virginia Economic Development Authority executive director spent 10 years in the Mountain State. He spoke during the forum’s lunch about the opportunities the SBA offers and emphasized the importance of building relationships.
“We need to make sure that everybody, no matter where they’re at, has the opportunity to succeed,” Spencer said. “That’s one of the powers of an event like this, local leaders can learn more about the programs that’s being offered by the federal partners, and take that information back to the community, to grow business in their rural community, or in their city, wherever they’re from.”
This year’s forum was a reprise of The Hub’s previous model, Foster said, but expanded with more resources and partners on hand. She said there were 250 registrations for the event, traveling from all over the state to attend.
She said the Hub had not hosted the Impact Forum in several years, and it was the first time Charleston hosted the event.
“This is a great time to be in Charleston,” Foster said. “We have the USA Cycling races coming through this week. We have Mountain Stage. There’s lots of great community development happening in the city. So, we’re really happy always to showcase our great Capital City here in West Virginia.”
Charleston made perfect sense for the forum, Foster noted.
“This was a great central location,” Foster said, “and could really bridge the gap between the communities we’ve been supporting for the last four years in the southern part of the state, with some of the communities we’re going to be working in in the future, the next two years, up in the northern panhandle in north-central West Virginia.”
She said she hopes community leaders can build partnerships to help bring their projects to fruition.
“My great hope would be that they leave with some new connections, new leads, for how they can get financing for their downtown development projects, their outdoor recreation projects that they’re working on, the trail systems that are getting mapped and built throughout southern West Virginia.”
A new award project for individual leaders who “build bridges and connections” in West Virginia was announced during the forum as well, Foster said. The West Virginia Weaver Awards will name 20 winners before the end of the year, she said, with the application period opening Wednesday and closing at the end of July.
Learn more about the organization at www.wvhub.org.