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ELKINS -- The Elkins-Randolph County Chamber, Elkins Main Street, and the Randolph County Development Authority will host a group of ongoing conversation gatherings in 2024.
The new program, entitled "Elkins-Randolph Together: A Community Conversation," was created after various conversations, committee meetings, after-hour type events, and social media comments from those in the community expressed the desire to learn more about what's happening locally.
The inaugural gathering, which will be sponsored by Davis Health System, will be Jan. 10 at 8:30 a.m. at Orchard Hall. The focus of that session will be housing and will feature representatives from the Randolph County Housing Authority, Woodlands Development and Lending, Catholic Charities, and North Central WV Community Action.
"The first gathering is in January, and there will be a total of six during the year," Elkins-Randolph County Chamber Director Lisa Wood told The Inter-Mountain. "People want a better understanding of what is going on in the community, because a lot of times there are things happening and people are just not aware of it. So this is going to be an opportunity for us to choose a topic and to bring in local experts to talk about it."
Additional focus ideas being considered include transportation, wellness, education and arts. The community is invited to participate in the gatherings, that will take place on the second Wednesdays of the scheduled months. There will be no charge, and coffee and donuts will be provided free.
"We are hoping that the issues we have chosen for the first two gatherings are ones people want us to bring to the table," Wood said. "We chose housing for the first one because we think it's a hot topic right now.
"In March we are going to focus on entrepreneurship. At the end of January we are going to ask people to provide us with some of the topics that they would like us to address in upcoming gatherings."
Other than the scheduled sessions in January and March, the additional gatherings will be held in the months of May, July, September and November. Like the first session, the May and September sessions will be held at Orchard Hall.
"We want to do one of the gatherings possibly in Beverly and maybe have one or two in downtown Elkins," Wood said. "We want to kind of spread it around – sometimes the venue may be relevant to the topic we are discussing."
For more information about the program, contact the Chamber, Elkins Main Street, or the Development Authority at 304-637-7500.