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Housing
& Community « Blueprint Communities »
...in West Virginia
Program Sponsors
- City National Bank of West Virginia
- FHLBank Pittsburgh
- Wesbanco Bank, Inc.
Program Partners
- Brushy Fork Institute
- Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
- Community Collaborative, Inc.
- Community Development Partnership of West Virginia
- Community Visions Foundation
- FHLBank Pittsburgh
- Heartland Center for Leadership Development
- USDA Rural Development
- U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
- Charleston Office
- West Virginia Department of Commerce
- West Virginia Housing Development Fund
- West Virginia University Extension Service
Benefits for Participating Communities
Each community selected for participation will receive
the following benefits totaling more than $15,000 per
participating community:
- Five days of core community revitalization training
led by highly regarded professional trainers, including
materials, meals and lodging.
- A one-day housing capacity and technical training
workshop.
- A community profile – a demographic and planning
report that includes key indicators and trends.
- A matching mini-grant for technical assistance,
project implementation and/or predevelopment needs
after successful involvement in Blueprint Communities.
- Funding opportunities and strengthened relationships
and communication between local leaders and funding
source representatives.
Community Revitalization Training
Blueprint Communities training will be undertaken by
two highly regarded organizations – The Heartland
Center for Leadership Development and Brushy Fork Institute
of Berea College. Training will begin with a kickoff
and orientation, to be held in March 2007, in Charleston.
Six days of training during three two-day sessions
will follow, with community teams involved in intensive
workshops at a West Virginia retreat location in spring
and fall of 2007. Sessions are designed for community
results with topics including:
- identifying & developing community resources
- growing local leadership
- team building & cohesiveness
- asset mapping
- encouraging civic engagement
- understanding community development models
- creating housing capacity
- visioning & planning
- marketing & communication
- keeping connected
- promoting best practices
Teams that complete Blueprint Communities training
will gain a thorough understanding of how to create
sustainable communities and the elements necessary for
success. Communities will have developed a:
- vision
- draft community plan
- clear action strategy (including a funding strategy)
- process to measure outcomes
- list of next steps/timeline to move the process
forward
The Heartland Center for Leadership Development,
a nationally recognized authority on leadership and
community development, will jointly conduct the Core
Community Revitalization Training with Brushy Fork Institute.
The Heartland Center led the Blueprint Communities training
effort in Pennsylvania in 2005 for more than 120 people
from 22 communities – with very favorable results.
For more information on the Heartland Center for Leadership
Development: www.heartlandcenter.info.
Brushy Fork Institute has worked to
develop strong leadership in Appalachian communities
throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia
since 1988. An outreach program of Berea College, the
institute offers leadership training, organizational
development workshops and technical assistance to communities
working for a better tomorrow. For more information
of Brushy Fork Institute, visit: www.berea.edu/brushyforkinstitute/default.asp.
Blueprint Communities Promotes Team
Training
Each team will comprise eight community representatives,
including at least one from an FHLBank member financial
institution, a development organization, the local governing
entity and a community-based organization, as well as
other key stakeholders. Everyone involved in helping
to make communities better should have a stake in the
Blueprint Communities initiative:
- community planners & developers
- service providers
- member bankers
- leaders in local government
- religious & civic leaders
- community-based organizations
- housing providers
- community & economic development practitioners
These key individuals must collaborate in committed
partnerships, taking into account all aspects of the
community, for revitalization to be successful.
Community Eligibility
Selected communities are classified as “emerging”
– those that have not completed a detailed community
plan, but that do have a strong foundation of local
leadership and possess some development capacity.
To be eligible, communities are required to:
- Have a population between 1,000 - 30,000, which
may be a neighborhood within a municipality, one municipality,
multiple municipalities (contiguous) or even an entire
county.
- Have not completed a neighborhood or community vision
and a holistic, comprehensive strategy within the
last two years.
- Demonstrate local leadership, have basic development
capacity and possess opportunity for development and
collaboration.
- Be able to put together a diverse team of leaders
committed to attending applicable training sessions
and advancing the welfare of the community.
Community Selection
FHLBank Pittsburgh, aided by program partners and an
advisory group, will select communities to participate.
These communities will complement six communities already
identified as being eligible and ready for Blueprint
Communities training. Communities identified as potential
participants will be sent a request for proposal (RFP),
which will establish eligibility and provide the foundation
for fair selection.
Questions
For more information on Blueprint Communities, contact
Laura Kemp-Rye at 304-291-5485 or via e-mail to blueprint@fhlb-pgh.com.
You may also visit the Blueprint Communities dedicated
Web site at www.blueprintcommunities.com
or call FHLBank's Community Investment Department at
1-800-288-3400.
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Resources
Go to the dedicated web
site.
Related Documents
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