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VOTE: Which Two West Virginia Towns Should Get "Turned Around"?

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It’s been a rough month in West Virginia, with the water crisis and all the negative, stereotypical coverage of Appalachia around the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty.

Let’s take all our anger and frustration and turn it into something positive. Let’s “Turn This Town Around.”

We’re partnering with West Virginia Community Development Hub and New South Media, Inc. to inspire two West Virginia towns – one north, one south – to develop their own solutions.

It starts with YOUR vote – you get to choose which two towns (out of eight candidates) will be part of this effort. Then, the community will take over. They’ll receive training and other resources to complete a project that builds on their efforts to revitalize their town.

As publisher Nikki Bowman of New South Media wrote in “West Virginia Focus” magazine:

The two towns you select will become living laboratories. Our goal is to help ignite change, to rally the community with a set of goals and deliverables, to showcase the successes and failures, to identify challenges, and to figure out what works and what doesn’t. The West Virginia Community Development Hub, a leader in community development, will coordinate the effort. The Hub will connect the two communities with training on civic engagement, leadership development, and project management; provide a community performance coach; help them assess their strengths and vulnerabilities; develop a community vision and plan; and link them to technical assistance providers in key areas like civic engagement, the local food movement, community sustainability, and organizational development.

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Credit New South Media
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Hundred, W.Va.

You can (and should) read more of Bowman’s article here, which includes detailed information about each town. 

You can check the current voting standing on the West Virginia Focus Twitter and Facebook pages.