News
Bridgewater Holds Open House for Main Street Study
On September 28, the final public information meeting regarding the Main Street (Route 42) Corridor Study was held at the Bridgewater Community Center. An engineering consultant from Kimley-Horn and Associates made a presentation on the existing conditions of the corridor, an operational field analysis, and the corridor improvements that could increase transportation safety, reduce congestion and enhance multimodal accessibility. Officials from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Town of Bridgewater were present to answer questions.
Bath & Highland Join Forces to Create Network Authority
GO VIRGINIA REGION 8 COUNCIL NOW ACCEPTING PROJECT PROPOSALS
The GO Virginia Region 8 Council is pleased to announce that it is accepting proposals for projects to be funded through the State’s GO Virginia initiative.
Region 8 is home to two planning district organizations, the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission (CSPDC) and the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC). The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission includes the counties of Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge, and Rockingham, and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton, and Waynesboro. The Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission includes the counties of Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah, Warren, and the City of Winchester.
The Region 8 Council has approximately $928,000 in GO Virginia funds to award to projects in the region. In addition, approximately $11.3 million in competitive statewide GO Virginia funds is available for projects.
Successful projects will address one or more of the region’s five targeted industry sectors:
- Financial and Business Services
- Health Care
- Information Technology/Communications
- Light Manufacturing
- Transportation and Logistics
Projects funded will address one or more of the region’s framework initiatives developed around the following broad areas:
- Recruit and/or retain the talent needed in the region
- Grow existing businesses, develop existing clusters, and scale-up small and mid-size companies
- Establish start-ups from commercializing university-based research and supporting entrepreneurs
- Support potential joint economic development activities such as site development and training initiatives
Projects supported by GO Virginia funding must:
- Involve private sector employment that pays an annual wage greater than $41,000,
- Include the collaboration of two or more localities,
- Commit non-state sources of matching funds (50/50), and
- Generate new spending to the Shenandoah Valley (not just recirculating local spending)
To submit a proposal:
For a project to be considered by the Region 8 Council, complete this pre-application. For a proposal to be included in the first round of review, the pre-application must be submitted to the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission at bonnie@cspdc.org no later than Friday, October 13, 2017.
For further information about GO Virginia Region 8’s project priorities, please refer to the Region 8 Economic Growth and Diversification Plan with appendices that is available on the Shenandoah Valley Partnership’s website. Additional information about GO Virginia also is available on the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) website.
Project Impact Children’s Publication Makes Its Way to Hurricane Victims
A Shenandoah Valley Project Impact publication created to help children understand disaster preparedness and navigate the stress of severe weather has been reformatted into a mini-guide that will soon be in the hands of children impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Thanks to a collaboration of several organizations and volunteers, 25,000 copies of “Too Much Weather” Kids Disaster Activity Guide will be shipped to hurricane-affected areas this month. The eight-page book is designed to be completed with a parent, teacher, or adult helper, and contains activities to assist children in dealing with the trauma they have experienced.
“Too Much Weather” was originally published after Hurricane Katrina through grant funding received by Shenandoah Valley Project Impact (SVPI), which is a program of the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission. James Madison University professor Dr. Anne Stewart worked with SVPI to create the materials that were included in the original guide, which also has information for kids about preparing for disasters, and what to do during severe weather.
The idea for creating a “mini-guide” edition sprung up when several people familiar with the guide decided it was critical to get it in the hands of the most recent young hurricane victims. Several organizations teamed up to quickly make it happen. Graphic design and formatting to make the guide accessible for the visually impaired were donated by Wightman and Associates, a training development firm in Florida. Dr. Alessandra Jerolleman, a Community Resilience and Hazard Mitigation expert from New Orleans contributed the Spanish translation, and Kathryn Lebby and the Association of Play Therapy Foundation donated the printing of 20,000 English and 5,000 Spanish copies.
Word has quickly spread about the availability of the guide, and SVPI is starting to receive requests for copies from groups like the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum, located in St. Thomas. The museum is working with volunteers stateside to create 500 – 600 “trauma bags” that will be shipped by private plane to the children in the Virgin Islands. The group is also asking for donations of the following items to be included in the bags:
- Notebooks/journals
- Crayons, pens, pencils
- Flashlights
- Stress balls
- Bubbles
- Playdoh or silly putty
- Power bars/snack bars
SVPI and Community Emergency Response Team members will be collecting the above items for shipment to the staging area along with copies of “Too Much Weather.” Community members interested in donating can drop items at the CSPDC offices at 112 MacTanly Place in Staunton from 8:30am – 5:30pm on September 14 and 15, from 10:00am – 1pm on Saturday, September 16, and 8:30am – 5pm on September 18.
For more information about “Too Much Weather” Kids Disaster Activity Guide, contact Rebecca Joyce, (540) 885-5174, rebecca@cspdc.org.