The Richmond Transit Network Plan
By Ross Catrow Earlier this year, a team of nationally recognized transit experts came to town to help the city completely reimagine Richmond’s transit network. Our current bus network is built on the bones of America’s first electric streetcar system and has resisted major overhauls to its lines for at least 40 years. To […]
101 Pit Bulls: Changing the Perception
Kelley Blanchard is on a mission to restore the image of America’s most bullied breed, the pit bull. Determined to fight fear and bias, Blanchard launched The Richmond Pit Bull Project to bring attention to rescuing, rehabilitating, and loving the American pit bull terrier and dogs with bulldog lineage. As part of her initiative, Blanchard […]
At the Center of Change
Last year, 62.8 million Americans volunteered 7.9 billion hours. Based on the Independent Sector’s valuation of a volunteer hour ($23.56 in 2015), all that time is worth more than $186 billion. That sounds like a lot until you realize that the number of people who volunteered last year is only slightly more than 25 percent […]
Technology Meets Craftsmanship
By Jeff Kelley “We’ve got a lot going on these days,” a grinning Jeff Rock says as we stand in a bright, 2,000-square-foot single-room warehouse off North Hamilton Street. It’s here where Rock, co-founder of the city’s most prominent software development company, along with his father and colleagues at Mobelux, are trying their hands […]
Beyond TEDxRVA
By Marc Cheatham and Paul Spicer When it comes to Richmond, the future isn’t coming; the future is here. All that’s left is how Richmond will define its identity moving forward. Events like TEDxRVA: ARTFUL, which was held this spring, are helping define Richmond for years to come. TEDxRVA, an independently organized TED event, […]
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia Opens in the Leigh Street Armory
By Paul Spicer On the corner of St. Peter and Leigh Streets in Jackson Ward sits a place for dialogue. The castle-like building, originally constructed in 1895, once served as the base for the First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Infantry, Richmond’s first African American regiments. This spring the building, known as the Leigh Street Armory, became […]
Burning Bright
By Elizabeth Sobka The Eastern Land Collective, a Broad Street-based co-working space, has two important switches. The first is the “on” switch to the studio’s Technivorm Moccamaster coffee brewer. Without it, creativity lags, conversation dwindles, and caffeine-withdrawal headaches slow production to a halt. The second is the life force of Alan Long’s business: the power […]
Creative Sprint RVA: Richmond Schools, Businesses, and Entrepreneurs Get Creative
By Noah Scalin and Mica Scalin When you think of creativity, what comes to mind? Is it an artist painting a picture or an author writing a book? Is it yourself? As siblings from a family of artists, we never questioned that we were creative, but when we started teaching creativity to the business […]
Shop and Sip Roaring Pines
Drew Dayberry is an advertising man gone rogue. He is the owner and operator of Roaring Pines, a general store and soda shop in Union Hill. Walking through the front door of Roaring Pines is like walking through time. The walls are made mostly of frosty gray-green pegboard decorated with American-manufactured goods: brooms, galvanized buckets, […]
This is Major
Communities are built through stories. When we tell stories that inspire and engage us, we inevitably build stronger communities. But it also takes dedicated people to share narratives that have the power to change. At the intersection of powerful stories and community engagement live two men: Mike Kemetic and Marshall “Major” Taylor. A Powerful Story […]