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Housing & Community | Real Life Stories « Blueprint
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Blueprint Communities Success
Stories
On March 12, Gov. Joe Manchin III,
FHLBank Pittsburgh and nearly two dozen partners celebrated
the dawning of a new day for community development
in West Virginia.
 An
outgrowth of FHLBank’s successful Blueprint Communities
initiative in Pennsylvania, the event, “West
Virginia Rising,” brought together a wide variety
of public, private and nonprofit partners committed
to engaging in closer collaboration in the pursuit
of community building. To celebrate West Virginia Rising,
FHLBank commissioned a new song of the same name premiered
live before more than 125 attendees by Larry Groce,
host and artistic director of West Virginia’s
Mountain Stage®.
Making news at the March 12 event was the naming of
ten counties, cities and neighborhoods as West Virginia’s
own Blueprint Communities, whose representatives received
words of encouragement from Gov. Manchin as well as
street banners denoting their newfound status. Gov.
Manchin served as co-host along with FHLBank.
Named as the first West Virginia Blueprint Communities
were: Ansted, Fairmont-Southside, Gilmer County, McDowell
County, Mullens, Ritchie County, St. Albans, Salem,
Shinnston and Williamson.
Each Blueprint Community will receive initial benefits
totaling more than $20,000, including leadership training,
a housing workshop, a mini-grant and access to a network
of potential funders after successful completion of
the program. In addition, FHLBank will set aside funds
from its Banking On Business and First Front Door programs
for the communities.
“Community leaders will be given the opportunity
to pull back and analyze their hometown’s longer-term
needs and come up with a reasoned blueprint,” said
Bill Batz, chief operating officer of FHLBank Pittsburgh,
who spoke at West Virginia Rising. “Our teams
won’t have it easy. They’ll be asked to
dig deep, build bridges and create consensus. They’ll
be expected to think outside the box. And they won’t
be paid for their efforts. They deserve our wholehearted
support.”
For the complete news release on West Virginia’s
new Blueprint Communities including the names of sponsors
and partners, click
here.
Click
here for more detailed information on each community
and to view additional images from the West Virginia
Rising event.
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