Harrisonburg, Virginia

The city has initiated some unique programs that are getting it noticed throughout the state. Harrisonburg’s Director of Economic Development, Brian Shull, reports, “We partner with our businesses wherever possible, because their success is our success. So this year we tried a new program specifically geared to help city retailers by offering them technical assistance. It was called Bricks & Clicks. Bricks: to help them with their storefront marketing and Clicks: to help improve their online presence and, ultimately, their sales through their website. We brought in well-known retail experts to help those businesses and offered technical assistance on a customized basis to help them get their game plan together. That was followed up with small cash grants, so they could implement these new strategies. It worked very well for us. We’re carrying it into a second phase now and we received state-wide recognition – an award from the Virginia Economic Developers Association for that program.” The City of Harrisonburg has a population close to 55,000. The Harrisonburg metro, including the city and Rockingham County, brings that population up to 135,000 daily. From 2010 to 2020, it was one of the fastest growing metros in the state. James Madison University is the largest employer; the second largest is Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) that serves a regional audience. In addition, there are a number of food processing manufacturers in the city, as well as book printing operations. AT A GLANCE HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA WHAT: County seat of Rockingham County; population approx. 55,000 WHERE: Central Shenandoah region of Virginia WEBSITE: www.harrisonburgva.gov