Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 3, Issue 3

8 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 MILLION HERNWV Advantage Valley, Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University, WV Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University, and WV Hive is seeking $11 million to fund the WV Community and Business Resilience Initiative. The initiative builds a 3-prong approach that serves as the foundation for successful economic diversification in southern West Virginia: people (leadership and business development), planning (strategic and community resilience plans), and places (community and downtown development). If funded, teams working on the WV Community and Business Resilience Initiative will engage thousands of community and local business leaders as well as deploy $900,000 in technical assistance and help business owners raise $1 million in capital to better position West Virginia communities to build a viable, sustainable economic future from the ground up. The WV Community and Business Resilience Initiative will lead to: • New and expanding businesses that scale up the number of homegrown entrepreneurs who share a mindset about economic diversification, climate resiliency and green technologies (Advantage Valley & WV Hive); • Diverse groups of high-capacity, locally- based leaders who are prepared to create Community Resilience Plans as well as advance large-scale community resilience and green development projects (WV Community Development Hub); and • Multiple new and historic properties in development to create the built environment needed to catalyze community and economic growth (WV Brownfields Assistance Centers). Partners planning the WV Community and Business Resilience Initiative are deploying their highest-impact strategies in community and economy building to get results. If funded, Residents working to make positive change in West Virginia communities need a built environment to support their efforts