Many of us take great pride in our hometowns – even if the places where we grew up have lost some of their luster over time. Have you wondered what it would take to recapture the sense of place and vitality your community once had, to attract new families and to grow new businesses? Would it involve revitalization of the town center, or event sponsorships that bring people together, or something else altogether?
How would you create a new vision and plan, and how would you fund it? Where would you begin?
Six West Virginia communities – each sponsored by one or more FHLBank Pittsburgh member financial institutions – have spent the past two years answering those questions, while working to create and implement plans to revitalize their communities.
- Kingwood in Preston County, sponsored by Clear Mountain Bank and WesBanco
- Lewis County, sponsored by Citizens Bank of Weston
- Meadow River Valley in Greenbrier County, sponsored by Summit Community Bank
- The Monticello Neighborhood of Clarksburg, sponsored by MVB Bank
- New Martinsville in Wetzel County, sponsored by Union Bank
- Parsons in Tucker County, sponsored by Citizens Bank of West Virginia
They have done this work with the support of FHLBank Pittsburgh’s Blueprint Communities® – an initiative designed to revitalize older communities and neighborhoods by developing local leadership and growing their capacity to accomplish their own goals.
“Blueprint Communities was developed in response to our members’ concerns for under-invested communities in the areas they serve,” explains John Bendel, FHLBank Pittsburgh’s Senior Director of Community Investment. “Our members are looking for ways to help their communities find opportunities for growth.” Established in 2005, Blueprint Communities has since supported 64 communities across Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia in their revitalization efforts. This program focuses on creating and building momentum, often working in concert with prior and ongoing initiatives and investments made by public and private entities. The six communities in West Virginia comprise the latest Blueprint Communities cohort.
According to Laura Rye, MVB Bank Community Reinvestment Act Officer and MVB Community Development Corporation COO, “Blueprint Communities is pivotal and sustaining for participating communities – providing the resources they need to stay on track and achieve long-term success.”
For this 2019 cohort, FHLBank Pittsburgh engaged the West Virginia Community Development Hub (The Hub) to help provide training and coaching to the six communities’ multidisciplinary teams, each of whom includes a local government official, a real estate development professional and a representative from a community organization. FHLBank Pittsburgh members also participate on the teams, contributing their financial expertise, strong community relationships and access to capital.
Additionally, FHLBank Pittsburgh provides each participating community with funding, including ‘anchor’ or ‘capacity-building’ grants for administration and training, and mini-grants awarded over a two-year period to kickstart priority projects.
“Small, rural communities often struggle to fund and execute large complex projects solely through volunteer support,” says The Hub Community Development Programs Specialist Kaycie Stushek. “Blueprint Communities’ anchor grants allow them to pay for staff and other administrative expenses that are needed to sustain their efforts. They are a critical component of the program’s success and part of what distinguishes Blueprint Communities from other community development programs.”
The program also encourages investments by public and private funders, and partners with organizations that can lend vital expertise. This enables the Blueprint Communities initiative to work alongside federal and state resources that help bring community plans to life. Blueprint Communities is just one of several community investment products offered by FHLBank Pittsburgh.
West Virginia’s Blueprint Communities teams began their work in 2019 and received their official Blueprint Communities designations in August 2020. During that time, the teams worked with their communities to better understand local needs and priorities – and worked with each community in the cohort, sharing ideas and resources that helped them build and implement their five-year strategic plans. According to Janet Preston with the Parsons team, “Working with the other teams has been energizing and inspiring because we can see possibilities for our own communities in each other’s work.”
In addition, the teams have partnered with a multitude of organizations – colleges and universities, economic development agencies, foundations, local lenders and volunteer groups – that have donated time, expertise and funding to further the revitalization efforts. According to Stushek, “Collectively, the teams have leveraged their individual $37,250 in anchor grants and approximately $15,000 of mini-grants to generate more than $2.83 million in funding, including a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program grant from FHLBank Pittsburgh and a $1.8 million Abandoned Mine Lands Program grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior.” With the additional $15,000 mini-grants in 2022, the communities can expect that leverage will grow.
Their plans and projects, while unique to their locales, address common priorities in older rural communities. Several teams have focused on revitalizing their downtowns – demolishing or repurposing older commercial buildings and creating urban parks with landscaping, seating and artwork by local artists. With West Virginia’s growing reputation as a destination for outdoor recreation, others have been working to improve regional parks and trails. Two of the communities are working to renovate former school buildings for use as community centers and affordable housing.
Marketing and advertising campaigns promoting local businesses, new business opportunities and recreational tourism complement these revitalization efforts. Events – organized hikes and 5K runs, outdoor movie nights, concerts and Second Saturday celebrations – encourage community partnerships and participation.
There have been challenges along the way – the pandemic among them. But since achieving their Blueprint Communities status, the teams have made important strides in their initial goals and built on their plans to grow their communities in ways they could not have envisioned when they began their Blueprint Communities journey.
Partnerships have been fundamental to their success – and to the overall success of the Blueprint Communities initiative. According to Stushek, “The Hub's close working relationship with FHLBank Pittsburgh has been essential to the communities’ ability to achieve their goals. Even during the height of the pandemic, the strength of that partnership gave us the flexibility we needed to respond to the communities’ changing needs – while producing program deliverables and supporting communities to achieve remarkable results."
FHLBank Pittsburgh’s Affordable Housing and Community Development Manager Rhiannon Haller concurs. “FHLBank members’ investments and partnership with The Hub, and the foundation laid by the Blueprint Communities initiative will hopefully sustain the success of these six communities for generations to come.”
"Blueprint Communities" is a registered service mark of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh.
