Following the June 2016 flood, Rupert Elementary School closed down due to substantial water damage. The community is now working towards revitalizing the property into a multi-purpose campus. What once housed classrooms will now be home to a medical clinic, senior living apartments, and an early learning center. During 2020, the WVU team worked on designing the building interior and campus grounds.
Project #1 - Mainstreet Kingwood has always been tasked with enhancing the lives of their community members through economic development and opportunity. With the surrounding bike trails connecting in the middle of town, Mainstreet has decided to create an outdoor space and business storefront that benefits the local community and incoming tourism.
Project #2 - Friend Of Cheat utilized their WVU team to develop and execute baseline economic development assessments related to their Preston Trail Towns Initiative. This project involved developing a plan to gauge outdoor recreation traffic throughout Preston County, conducting community-based asset and needs assessments for participating towns, and strategic planning.
Project #1 - The Taylor County Adventure Club manages The Grafton City Park & Campground. The park has direct access to the Tygart River and Tygart Lake, making it a great outdoor asset for the community. With the Fulcrum project, The Adventure Club worked with their WVU team to design a new rental facility and camping area to promote Tourism in the area and on the river.
Project #2 - Within one of the main intersections in Grafton, WV, there is a vacant lot that the city would like to develop to better reflect the city's community and mission. With the help of our students, the concept of a community "time-capsule" came to life on this lot.
To increase outdoor tourism and provide a space for the community to recreate, Mullens set the goal of developing a vacant lot in Stonecoal Junction. The lot sits at the formation site of the Guyandotte River and the start of the Guyandotte River Trail, a significant recreational asset in Southern WV. A cohesive park, overlook, and kayak access design will create an attraction for current residents and visitors to the area.
New Martinsville had the goal to renovate the 4 entry ways into our community, making them attractive once again and highlighting what the community has to offer for visitors and residents. With the help of Fulcrum Project, the city was able to identify a new sign design for all 4 entry ways into the community.
The Town of Kimball is striving to rebrand itself to promote tourism and economic development. The new connector for the Hatfield-McCoy trail will provide opportunities for the town to grow. Individuals are purchasing property here to develop summer homes in order to ride on the trail, but there are few opportunities for tourists to bring RVs and Campers to enjoy the trail system and the other beauty of the state. With the Fulcrum Project, Kimball was able to develop a campground on a vacant lot near the connector for the Hatfield-McCoy trails.