“ON TRAC illustrates one way the residents of this state have pulled together to improve the quality of life and business opportunities in their respective communities,” Manchin said. “This program helps towns get ‘ON TRAC’ to revitalization by capitalizing on the history and the resources of the community itself.”
“We are really excited,” Matewan Mayor Shelia Kessler said. “We will now have access to resources such as technical support that can allow us to apply for various grants and funding to help us revitalize our town.”
ON TRAC – an acronym for Organization, Training, Revitalization and Capacity – is a new program created by Main Street West Virginia to help communities boost economic growth with evaluation, education and networking resources. ON TRAC is the precursor to becoming a fully designated Main Street Community. Participants must be an ON TRAC Community for at least two years before applying to become a Main Street Community.
To be eligible for ON TRAC, a community must be located within an incorporated area, served by downtown infrastructure and resources and have a sponsoring organization. The organization that sponsored Matewan was the Matewan Historical Landmark commission, chaired by Paul McAllister. Delphine Coffey coordinated the ON TRAC application process.
Kessler said the town hopes to restore some historic building to the downtown area as well as develop attractions for visitors to the Hatfield McCoy Trail System.
“We would like to make some improvements to our swimming pool and work of other projects that we hope will keep trail riders in our town when they visit,” she said.
Communities selected for ON TRAC will receive training in downtown and neighborhood revitalization, an assessment of strengths and weaknesses, a technical design visit, action-planning services, access to an online library of databases and resources, telephone consultation, scholarship and grant information, and participation in the mentoring program from the certified Main Street Programs. Main Street West Virginia, a program of the West Virginia Development Office, focuses on economic revitalization of historic downtown and neighborhood commercial districts by providing technical services, design assistance and continuous training of board and committee members and program managers using the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Four-Point Approach®. Main Street West Virginia provides a liaison between various state agencies and organizations with the designated communities.
Kessler said she was thankful of the outpouring of support Matewan received when she traveled to the state capitol for the ceremony.
“Matewan had more people there than any other community,” she noted.
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