Governor, Petersburg mayor touch on progress in 'Partnership for Petersburg' initiative
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PETERSBURG — A grant program for new and existing businesses, money to improve flooding conditions in east Petersburg, and a potential new downtown grocery stores are all on the horizon for the city.
They were among the updates provided as Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham presented a report card Tuesday morning on the "Partnership for Petersburg" initiative launched by the city and state to raise Petersburg's standing across six areas of need. Their announcements preceded a ribbon-cutting for the new $8 million park-and-ride deck on Union Street behind the Petersburg Multimodal Center.
The "Petersburg Founder's Fund" is a $500,000 grant program seeded with state money, Youngkin told the crowd of 200 or so assembled at the PMC. It will award grants of up to $25,000 to potential and existing businessowners as incentive for building in Petersburg. A special Investment Advisory Board made up of local business leaders and economic developers would vet applicants and make recommendations on recipients. Grants would be awarded to support such areas as market validation, capital access and meeting consumer demands.
"We want to cultivate free enterprise throughout Petersburg," Youngkin said. But cultivating free enterprise "is not a government-led process," although government can support it, he added.
The Founder's Fund is a program co-driven by the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. and Virginia State University.
Other pertinent information from the partnership updates include:
$2.8 million in grants to pay for a flood prevention and protection project in Petersburg's flood-prone Lakemont community. The project would improve stormwater structure systems across the neighborhood.
Crime-prevention efforts will be bolstered through the continued placement of 62 Virginia State Police troopers to help Petersburg Police with patrol. Additionally, the VSP will establish a Bureau of Administration Support Services, Criminal Investigation and Field Operation office in the city. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will base six associates in Petersburg, and the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force is committing eight agents here.
Virginia will invest an additional $327,000 to expand YMCA before- and after-school programs at Petersburg's four elementary schools and the Westview Early Childhood Education Center.
Virginia is giving Petersburg nearly $400,000 to avoid eliminating one of its Communities In Schools site coordinators, and hire two more.
"Just two months ago, I made a promise that we would collectively lock arms and be partners, and then we would come back and report what we're doing," Youngkin said Tuesday, his fifth trip to Petersburg since becoming governor last January.
"They asked me early on, 'Why Petersburg?' and I said very quickly, 'Petersburg matters," the governor said.
More:State unveils 'partnership' with Petersburg on improving city life across underserved areas
Watch a Facebook feed of the presentation at the Petersburg Multimodal Center here.
Downtown grocery shopping
Prior to Youngkin's speech, Parham took the podium to announce Petersburg's plan to solicit interest from grocery-store chains in building a full-service supermarket downtown.
Petersburg has long been considered a "food desert" due to the lack of large-scale grocery stores here. The only ones — Food Lion, Save-a-Ton and Walmart — are located in the southern part of the city, and there has not been a supermarket downtown since IGA closed several years ago on South Adams Street. There are several smaller neighborhood markets, but none with the capacity
"The city has identified several sites for the new grocery store, and we will move fast," Parham said. Proposals will be accepted through Nov. 22.
Potential sites for the supermarket include the former location of Southside Regional Medical Center on South Sycamore Street, and a lot at the corner of Washington and Union streets across from the Multimodal Center. Consideration also is being given to some of the downtown property recently purchased by the city.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Governor unveils 'Founder's Fund' for Petersburg business growth
