The Town of Narrows has received a 2019 Virginia Main Street Commercial District Affiliate grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development through the Virginia Main Street (VMS) Program, the state’s coordinating program for Main Street America. The grants are designed to provide funding for projects or services that will assist communities or organizations in achieving their downtown revitalization goals, and are available to the 80+ Commercial District Affiliates that have registered with Virginia Main Street. Commercial District Affiliates in the New River Valley include the City of Radford and the towns of Floyd, Narrows, Pearisburg, Pembroke, and Pulaski.
The $7,000 grant will be used to develop a collaborative approach for advancing downtown commercial district development among the five towns in Giles County, and increase the ability of each town to develop and implement their own strategies following the Virginia Main Street approach. The ultimate outcome of the grant is to create a “Hometowns of the New River” initiative in Giles County, building on the successful ‘Hometowns of the Clinch’ model that towns along the Clinch River have developed for their communities. (More info on Hometowns of the Clinch at: https://www.clinchriverva.com/clinch-river-communities/hometowns-of-the-clinch-designation/ ).
As in the Clinch River region, this initiative builds on several recent projects in Giles County towns that focus on attracting visitors to the many outdoor recreation opportunities in Giles County, and connecting them to restaurants, shops, and other businesses in the nearby towns. The project helps community and business leaders in each town to identify what their town can do to make their downtown more attractive and accessible to visitors enjoying Giles County outdoor recreation amenities, and help the businesses in the downtown district to become more successful. The Town of Narrows is partnering with the Giles County Tourism Office and the New River Valley Regional Commission for the implementation of this grant.
For more information about the Virginia Main Street program, please visit: https://virginiamainstreet.com/ . For more information about the VMS grant project in Narrows, contact Patrick O’Brien, pobrien@nrvrc.org.