DAVIS – The town of Davis was selected as one of 14 towns in the West Virginia Focus Magazine’s Turn This Town Around initiative. The towns were selected based on nominations, and voting for the winners in two categories began Dec. 2 and will continue through Dec. 9. As of Saturday, Davis was in third place.
Tucker County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Bill Smith said Davis is a great choice for the Turn This Town Around nomination.
“We have been nominated in the small town category, and folks can go online and vote for the winners,” Smith said. “It is my understanding that the program opens up and allows the town to receive grant monies for town improvements. We have done well in these kinds of things in the past, and I would encourage everyone to go online and vote for Davis.”
Smith said only one vote from each IPS account would be accepted. “But you can vote from your cell phone, computer and pad.”
Last year’s winners in Turn This Town Around were Grafton and Matewan, and this year’s winners will be announced in the Jan/Feb edition of West Virginia Focus Magazine. Partners for the project include West Virginia Focus, WV Public Broadcasting and the WV Community Development Hub, each telling the story of the two towns while their citizens begin the revitalization. Additional partners in the project include the West Virginia Small Business Development Center, the West Virginia Division of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Philanthropy WV, the Tamarack Foundation, BrickStreet Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and T-Graphics.
Voting is available online at http://ttta.wvfocus.com/2014/11/14/2015-turn-this-town-around-voting/. Cities in the running for the 2015 Turn This Town Around are divided into two categories: Under 1,500 include Davis, Whitesville, Alderson, Sistersville, Pineville, Hundred and New Cumberland. Cities in the 1,501 to 6,000 include Ripley, Hinton, Logan, Weston, Charles Town, Philippi and Petersburg.
West Virginia Focus said the towns in the 2015 Turn This Town Around contest were based on reader’s nominations, and one community from each of these categories will be selected through an online voting process and awarded the honor of being one of two 2015 Turn This Town Around communities.
According to West Virginia Focus, the two communities selected will receive a wide variety of support over the year as citizens come together to identify ways they can improve their community and their economy. Communities will receive training and hands-on assistance in planning and implementing projects to beautify their towns, revitalize their downtowns, build new businesses, and diversify their economies. In addition, each community will have access to additional resources they can only receive through Turn This Town Around, including technical assistance from a numerous agencies and organizations from across the state.
