Create West Virginia

Community Development Training Opportunity

Does your community want to move forward but the public officials or informal leaders are not sure how to proceed? A good place to learn the “tools of the trade” for community and economic development is the Community Development Institute East. This national training program that will be held April 28 through May 2 at the Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa in Morgantown.

The five-day event will feature thought provoking topics relevant to the daily work of leaders and groups in both the public and private sector. The national-level training is endorsed by the Community Development Council and can lead to a person becoming certified as a “Professional Community and Economic Developer.”

CDI East offers a tiered three-year program—via one week a year—that is appropriate for anyone interested in community and economic development. Participants have included local development directors, state and federal agency staffers, elected officials and community activists. Topics covered include the principles of community development and strategic planning in Year 1, asset mapping and partnership building in Year 2, and land use planning and community development corporations in Year 3.

For more information, please visit the website at http://www.ext.wvu.edu/cdi-east/  You may also contact Course Director Michael Dougherty (304-293-6131 Ext. 4215 or Michael.Dougherty@mail.wvu.edu). Also, please note that early bird registration ends April 7!

Cool Towns - How Did They Get That Way?

David Ivan is a passionate guy. A researcher and program manager at Michigan State University's Extension Office, he spends a great deal of time talking to people in small towns like many of those in West Virginia.

What's his purpose? To identify those rural, small town communities that are bucking the trend and thriving. He's looking for turnaround stories, and he is documenting the best practices they have used to come alive in the 21st century new economy.

Dave visited West Virginia in February during Entrepreneurship Week as the special guest of Vision Shared, the Charleston Area Alliance and Mythology. He met with the WV Commerce Department's Development Office, with a few West Virginia legislators, spoke to a crowd of over 75 people at the Alliance's Think Tank event, and then delivered a nationwide webcast live from the WV State Capitol. Not a bad visit.

So what are the best practices that Dave has uncovered? Here are their characteristics. How many does your community follow?

• Strong engagement between citizens, community organizations and government.
• A strong “third place” factor – Places to hang out to develop friendships, discuss issues and interact with others.
• A regional approach to future opportunities - Deliberate efforts are made to coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions.
• A willingness to adapt zoning regulations  for new opportunities.
• Active pursuit of cultural economic development opportunities. Cultural efforts are not overly contrived. They are authentic and are often organically-driven by creative individuals within the community.
• Cultural and growth efforts deliberately reach out to community youth.
• They have a dedicated effort to preserving heritage.
• They pay attention to and protect natural amenities.
• There is local entrepreneurial investment, and the community acts like an entrepreneur.
• They have a conviction that in the long run, you have to do it yourself (not wait for others to do it for you).

There you have it. Small cities all over the United States (and other countries) have used these core principles to turn around their population loss, create jobs, and generally develop more attractive communities that they enjoy living in.

We are working to secure Dave's time to speak at the upcoming Create West Virginia Conference 2008 this October. Watch for more details!

Signs of Life in Post-Industrial Communities

Two more case studies on how to re-invigorate life in smaller towns and cities. Johnstown, PA, a rustbelt city in Western PA, that has declined from a population of 63,000 fifty years ago to just 22,000 today as heavy manufacturing collapsed. Can a ghost town come back to life? From AP:

Decades after heavy industry died, taking much of Johnstown with it, this Rust Belt community appears to be regaining its footing. An aggressive city planner, a creative redevelopment authority and tourism officials are trying to turn Johnstown into a postindustrial tourist center with a vibrant downtown.Since 2004, real estate tax revenues have been flat at about $3.4 million, an indication the city is holding its own after years of declining revenues during the peak of deindustrialization, city manager Curtis Davis said.

The Johnstown Area Heritage Association is helping turn an 1860s-era Cambria Iron Works blacksmith shop, a National Historic Landmark that can't be destroyed, into a working area for artisans. Along with a steel theater, a children's museum, an immigration museum and a flood museum, Johnstown will be a "working man's Williamsburg," envisions Richard Burkert, the association's executive director.

In Nelsonville, OH, not far across the Ohio-WV border, the community is investing in the arts to revitalize their town. Final Fridays on the Square has been building a steady flow of energy and excitement in town. Several art galleries are popping up. The Nelsonville Art and Music Festival (May 16-18) brings an eclectic mix of musicians and artists together in a way that has been building buzz in Southeastern OH. 

On the final Friday of every month, except December, galleries and retail shops on Nelsonville's Historic Square stay open late to feature special art events.

From 6:00 - 10:00 pm, enjoy artists' demonstrations, art chats, artists at work in their studios and openings of new art exhibits, plays, and musical shows. Watch drum circles, street musicians, dancers, and other sidewalk entertainment amidst artists & craftspersons selling their wares.

Johnstown and Nelsonville are demonstrating that investing in their "quality of place" is turning the tide against their recent economic declines and showing signs that in the new economy it's critical to attract a new generation of creatives that can generate growth.

New Entrepreneurial Directory

We all know the importance of entrepreneurs and small business growth to West Virginia's economy. Connecting them to the right source for services, information and products is critical.

A Vision Shared, in collaboration with the West Virginia Small Business Development Centers, is creating a new, comprehensive online directory. It is designed to connect West Virginia businesses and organizations with each other for needed goods and services.

The first step in the West Virginia Biz Builder project is to collect information for inclusion on the directory from existing service providers - businesses, professional organizations, development groups and the many organizations in our great state working hard every day to grow business here (that's YOU!). Please go online to www.WVBizBuilder.com and fill out the short registration form.

We need your help! Encourage your members and partners to also go on www.WVBizBuilders.com and register to be included in the directory. This is a free service offered to businesses and organizations, and will be a great way for organizations to find new customers.

You may contact Nikki Williams at 304.346.7635 for more information or questions.Thank you in advance for your support!

Matt Wender, Kent Spellman, Jenny Fertig - Vision Shared Direct Rural Strategies Team Leaders

Golden Opportunity Missed?

We often talk about ways to attract, retain, and develop creative talent here in West Virginia.  But how well are we doing?  If this story is true, not well.

Recently, a high profile position opened up and a person with a very bright future and innovative ideas was looked over.  Perhaps because he was from Connecticut?

From the AP:

He’s only 12, he doesn’t have a car and he lives nearly 500 miles from campus. But Joshua Irizarry’s heartfelt plea and willingness to work around obstacles got him a brief consideration for the gig as head football coach at West Virginia University.

Insisting it was ‘‘a completely serious offer,’’ the Connecticut boy outlines his skills in a letter to WVU President Mike Garrison when the job opened up in December.

They included ‘‘making up new plays to fool defenses in local sandlot games.’’

And he showed a knack for public relations: ‘‘Consider the publicity your campus would receive,’’ he wrote.

‘‘I understand this would be a move more suited for a team like Temple, but I am just asking for your consideration."

As you may have heard, someone else got the position.  It looks like WVU favored such factors as experience and past performance over pure fanaticism.

Surely we can find a place for this young man somewhere in our fine state.   Joshua, if you're listening, we're not all so close-minded.

- Justin Seibert
Direct Online Marketing

Pride and Prejudice

It can be a difficult thing, opening up old definitions and systems to new ways of respecting the wide range of human experience and identity.  Kudos to the WV Legislature for moving forward with adding sexual orientation to the State Human Rights and Fair Housing Act.  http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/41591.html?isap=1&nav=535

When relationships are between consenting adults, no one should be threatened with losing their jobs or their housing simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Next to prejudice against obese people, this discrimination may be the last of the great irrational and openly socially-endorsed hatreds.

Seth DiStefano, a field organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union, recently commented on the Legislature’s direction:  "It really affirms what West Virginians believe about work. People who work hard deserve respect.  The kind of employers we're trying to attract to West Virginia pay very close attention to how states are dealing with this issue."

Create WV consistently works to provide public education on the role of this dynamic reality in the new economy, and in creative communities.  It is important that West Virginians stretch themselves out of their current comfort zones in multiple areas, and recognize that a fully developed definition of human rights is a critical step.  Sure, a cross-dressing school teacher might take some getting used to…..but if our children are to grow and thrive in the global economy, and to feel comfortable stretching their own wings in the world, we can’t use institutionalized fear-based discrimination against harmless law-abiding members of our communities as a tool to prepare them.

No one need change their personal beliefs – though it might not be a bad idea – but we all need to make room for new generations and new populations to make their own decisions, and to be what we all ultimately hope for:  a world where the passage of time leads us closer to a sense of family, peace, and acceptance of one another for the greater good of all.

Money is No Object

Money Is No Object

From time to time, I hear rumbles that the concept of a creative community is, well,……perhaps the word is high falutin’.

Somewhere along the line, creative thinking and wanting something beautiful and expressive became all mixed up with elitism.  I have two simple examples of how profoundly off-base this idea is.

Recently my husband and I took the long way home from a trip out of town, and wandered back to Charleston by way of Route 39.  This winding and extremely rural road boasts some lovely natural scenery, and yet sadly some of the more dilapidated housing and isolated communities I’ve seen in some time.  Just at the point I thought it was too heavy to manage, along came the brightest of bright spots – a small white house, tucked back from the road, with an exterior covered in cast iron skillets.  http://www.castironcookware.com/lodge-combo-cooker.html

I’d include a picture, but I didn’t have my camera ready (most regretfully).  When I say covered, I mean it was as if every skillet that had ever been owned and passed down for generations had been saved and lovingly hung like shingles as a protective coating over the home’s exterior; but it obviously wasn’t just practical, it was artistic.  The sizes were balanced, and the negative space between each pan created a pattern as fascinating as the pans themselves.  All I could think was, “How much would I love to meet those homeowners, and how much could they teach others about innovation and art!”

The second example is the blossoming celebration and mystery in Charleston around Minni Purl (http://thegazz.com/gblogs/downtownwv/2008/03/03/guestphoto-minni-purl-strikes-again/).  This is a phenomenon of creative expression you really have to see and feel to appreciate!  An anonymous individual with knitting skills is creating unique pieces and, I assume under cover of darkness, selectively wrapping local statues in hats and scarves, as well as making soft doorway handles and fence buffers.  He or she is establishing an identity as possibly the world’s first knitwear graffiti artist.  That’s right – a possible world’s first right here in our little state.

Neither of these efforts required gobs of cash or college educations.  Now while I am the last person you will hear downplaying the importance of education, l simply say let’s remember that a creative community is made up of more than degrees.  An artistic eye, a sense of self expression, and a willingness to embrace non-traditional fun is often all it takes to engage as a full-fledged member of the creative community – thank goodness for all of us!

Posted by Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher

Lessons to Learn From Finland?

Did you hear about the school whose students rate the highest in the world in science and close to the top in math among the top 57 countries? And oh, by the way, assign very little homework, don't have school uniforms, no "achievement award" programs like honor societies, very little standardized testing and wait until kids are seven years old before they start school?

In fact, it's not just a school...it's a country. Unlike U.S. schools, which have addressed performance concerns with more structure, more testing, more homework and programs that engage kids at an earlier age, Finland's kids are far ahead of other countries by the time they are in ninth grade. And there is very little difference in scores between the best performing schools and the worst, or between the schools in the wealthiest areas of the country and the least - much different than our U.S. situation.

What's their secret? Educators have been visiting Finland to find out:

What they find is simple but not easy: well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal.

Comparing results from a relatively small, homogeneous country like Finland with a large, diverse country like the United States may not be entirely fair. But are there lessons we can apply? Read more in the Wall Street Journal.