News

People Incorporated in the News

Toms Brook School Apartments

The Toms Brook School has been a priority revitalization project for the Town of Toms Brook and Shenandoah County, Virginia, since it closed its doors in 1991. Built in 1935, the Toms Brook School was a primary education school for nearly 56 years and one of many community schools along Virginia’s Route 11 corridor, serving kindergarten through middle-school aged students. As the developer and future landlord, People Incorporated has given the property new life and a new purpose, meeting the community's need for affordable housing, as the Toms Brook School Apartments.

April 8, 2013

Community Action Agencies Provide Quality Health Care Across America

Don Mathis, President & CEO, Community Action Partnership, Washington, DC
 
The Promise – The Magazine of The Community Action Partnership   2013 Issue 1
 

“People Incorporated of Virginia (People Inc), the Community Action Agency headquartered in Abingdon, VA, validates its claim as being one of the most effective CAAs in America through its successful, innovative use of federal New Market Tax Credits. People Inc and its partners are constructing a new nursing school and rehabilitating an environmentally-impaired brownfield, the old Knox County Hospital.” Read More >

January 9, 2013

People Incorporated Financial Services Awarded $180,590 from USDA to support safe and clean well water systems in rural areas

Abingdon, Virginia – People Incorporated is pleased to announce that it has received a $180,590 Household Water Well System (HWWS) grant from the Rural Utilities Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to help struggling families access safe and potable drinking water. People Incorporated will use the funding to establish a revolving loan fund to provide low interest loans for low-to-moderate income rural homeowners to construct, repair or replace household water well systems for existing homes. Read More >

December 31, 2012

Local Business and Tourism Goals Benefit From Ninth District Development Financing, Inc. Loan Fund

Light’s at Stone Mill, which began in Washington County, Virginia, as a farm and feed supply store 72 years ago, is poised to become Abingdon Virginia’s newest tourism attraction.  Light’s has a history of successfully evolving to meet the changing retail needs of Abingdon and the surrounding communities.  In 2004, recognizing an opportunity to expand their business and broaden their appeal beyond their core commercial agricultural customers, the owners built a new 12,000 square foot retail store in Abingdon, Light’s at Stone Mill, and began offering clothing, pet supplies, wild bird items and giftables. Now, with expansion capital from Ninth District Development Financing’s loan fund, Light’s at Stone Mill will help Abingdon further its tourism destination goals by becoming Abingdon’s “general store.”  Read More >

October 31, 2012

People Incorporated of Virginia’s Benhams Head Start Center Receives 2012 Best of Bristol Award

People Incorporated of Virginia is pleased to announce that its Benhams Head Start Center has been selected for the 2012 Best of Bristol Award in the Head Start category by the Bristol Award Program.  This facility is located in Bristol Virginia and serves 54 Head Start children and their families. Read More >

September 25, 2012

Ninth District Development Financing Inc invites Loan Requests for tourism-related businesses in Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District.

Are you considering starting or expanding a tourism-based business in Southwest Virginia?  If so, People Incorporated wants to make sure you know about the Ninth District Development Financing (NDDF) Loan Fund.  Developed in 1995, with the support of U.S. Congressman Rick Boucher, this revolving loan fund supports local tourism efforts with low interest working capital and fixed asset financing. The current rate for the loan fund is 3.25% for well-qualified borrowers.  NDDF supports job creation while preserving and enhancing the region’s cultural, historical, and natural attractions for visitors and residents alike. Read More >

 

September 14, 2012

People Inc. to improve two homes in Shenandoah County

People Inc. on Tuesday received the go-ahead from the Board of Supervisors to move forward on another effort to improve the quality of living for low-income residents. Supervisors authorized the county administrator to sign agreements through the Scattered Site Housing Rehabilitation Project through the federal Community Development Block Grant program. Read More >

 
 

August 1, 2012

Senator Warner announces $815,000 Rural Jobs Grant for Southwest Virginia that will support Friends of Southwest Virginia regional initiative

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today announced that Southwest Virginia’s ‘Round the Mountain (RTM) artisan network has been awarded a competitive grant of $815,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Appalachian Regional Commission. The innovation grant was awarded to Appalachian Spring, a creative economy initiative through the Friends of Southwest Virginia in partnership with the region’s Planning District Commissions, People Inc., and Virginia Community Capital to develop asset-based economic development, particularly related to outdoor recreation, downtown revitalization, and small business development. Read More >

July 24, 2012

Heartwood: Southwest Virginia's Artisan Gateway receives LEED Certification from U.S. Green Building Council

The Southwest Virginia chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council presented the Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification to Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway in a ceremony held there.  Accepting the award were People Incorporated President and CEO, Rob Goldsmith, project architect, David Bandy, and Heartwood project manager, Rob Jones.

“This achievement underscores Heartwood’s efforts to contribute to the very growth we intend to stimulate through this venture,” said Goldsmith.  “It is in keeping with our mission to promote economic, environmental, and community sustainability within the framework of a place-based economy.”Read More >

July 16, 2012

People Incorporated now offering microloans to entrepreneurs in Bristol, TN and Sullivan County, TN

People Incorporated Financial Services is pleased to announce the expansion of its microenterprise products and services to serve entrepreneurs in the city of Bristol, TN and Sullivan County, TN as an intermediary Microlender for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA recently approved People Incorporated’s request to offer services in Tennessee in consideration of the organization’s past performance and experience as an SBA lender in Virginia.  Read More >

 
 
 

May 17, 2012

People Incorporated Financial Services celebrates 20 years of service to small businesses

People Incorporated Financial Services celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a celebration gala at Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway in Abingdon, Virginia. Attendees were welcomed by Board Chair, Charlotte Mullins, and remarks were made by Rob Goldsmith, President and CEO, as well as Deborah Wagner, Director of Economic Community Development. There were approximately 70 people in attendance, including many past and present clients, sponsors, community partners, and staff.

The Key Note speech was delivered by Bill Shelton, Director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.  Bill has been a steadfast supporter of People Incorporated’s microenterprise program as an economic development tool since the program’s inception.  The event also included a video presentation featuring many of the entrepreneurs who have been assisted by People Incorporated in the last 20 years. Read More >

May 14, 2012

People Incorporated Financial Services Receives Grant from Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network’s “Create Jobs for USA” Initiative

People Incorporated Financial Services, a local community lender, announced today that it has received a capital grant from the Create Jobs for USA Fund, a collaboration between Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network (OFN). The money will help People Incorporated create and sustain jobs in the Southwest and Northern Shenandoah Valley regions of Virginia as part of a national campaign to support community businesses in underserved communities. Read More >

February 24, 2012

People Incorporated Awarded $20,000,000 To Fund High Impact Community Development Projects

People Incorporated Financial Services, a non-profit community development organization headquartered in Abingdon, VA, has been selected by the CDFI Fund of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to receive a $20 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to provide financing for high-impact, community development projects throughout Virginia and the southeastern United States. People Incorporated was selected from among 314 community development practitioners that competed for the NMTC in 2011. This is the third allocation of NMTC for People Incorporated in four years.  Read More >

September 7, 2011

People Incorporated Honored with National Master Innovator Award

People Incorporated was competitively selected as the winner of the first annual Master Innovator Award for Community Economic Development by the Community Action Partnership.  The Community Action Partnership is the national membership organization representing over 1,000 Community Action Agencies throughout the United States.  People Incorporated won this award in recognition of its outstanding work in promoting community development as a core strategy in promoting economic security and reducing poverty. Read More>

 

 

 

April 28, 2011

People Incorporated Selected as Best Non-Profit Workplace

Local Community Action Agency recognized by National NonProfit Magazine

Abingdon, Virginia – People Incorporated was recently selected as one of the Best NonProfit Organizations to Work for 2011. The awards program was created in 2010 and is a project of The NonProfit Times and Best Companies Group. Read More >

March 30, 2011

Raising Grundy

For the latest on the project and an archived history of the construction, visit www.raisinggrundy.com

For decades it was deemed far-fetched, an impossibility, pie-in-the-sky. But all of a sudden, it’s real.

A one-time coal boomtown washed away by flooding and long forgotten by progress, Grundy is making a dramatic entrance into the 21st century. Read More >

March 30, 2011

Bristol loan project designed to boost downtown business growth

Representatives from both Bristol cities and several area banks gathered Tuesday to announce the creation of a $135,000 loan fund to help new businesses locate downtown and existing ones upgrade their current sites along the State Street corridor. Read More >