BEACON Kitchen construction is underway in Belmont

The BEACON kitchen project will be a full-equipped shared-use kitchen for entrepreneurs.

Right now, it’s under construction in Charlottesville’s Belmont neighborhood.

New Hill Development has a BEACON pilot kitchen on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

“It’s pretty miraculous seeing going from blueprints to being at the construction site, seeing the infrastructure being laid down,” BEACON Director David Givens said

Check us out in Vinegar Hill Magazine

New Hill Development Corporation got its start from a series of conversations about the history and future of Black wealth in Charlottesville. In early 2017, Wes Bellamy and Kathy Galvin, then City Council members, gathered a group of Black entrepreneurs and community leaders to talk about Black representation in city development. But the scope of the discussion quickly grew.

They wanted to develop sustainable economic power for Black communities, so they set out to understand the history of that power.

BEACON BLOG IS LIVE!

New Hill Development Corporation got its start from a series of conversations about the history and future of Black wealth in Charlottesville. In early 2017, Wes Bellamy and Kathy Galvin, then City Council members, gathered a group of Black entrepreneurs and community leaders to talk about Black representation in city development. But the scope of the discussion quickly grew.

They wanted to develop sustainable economic power for Black communities, so they set out to understand the history of that power.

A new hill to build on Envisioning a future for Black business in Charlottesville

CEO yolunda

New Hill Development Corporation got its start from a series of conversations about the history and future of Black wealth in Charlottesville. In early 2017, Wes Bellamy and Kathy Galvin, then City Council members, gathered a group of Black entrepreneurs and community leaders to talk about Black representation in city development. But the scope of the discussion quickly grew.

They wanted to develop sustainable economic power for Black communities, so they set out to understand the history of that power.

Vinegar Hill Magazine: Determined to Stay 

Yolunda Harrell is currently the CEO of the New Hill Development Corp., but on September 11, 2001, she was working for a major airline. After the terror attacks, she immediately found herself among tens of thousands of people in the industry without a job. She’d never before been unemployed.

“I didn’t know how to deal with that at all,” she said. “I was not financially prepared.”

She didn’t have any savings. She hadn’t invested in her company’s 401(k) retirement plan. “I just didn’t take all of those things into consideration because no one had ever explained it to me,” she said. “As a result, I learned a lot of hard painful lessons.”

Cville Tomorrow: New Hill drafts plan to give Black Charlottesville reasons to stay

In the spring of 2019, New Hill Development Corporation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) engaged Richmond-based firm Floricane to facilitate the development of a community engagement process and the creation of a Small Area Plan (SAP) for the Starr Hill community in Charlottesville

Later at a City Council Meeting, New Hill’s Starr Hill Neighborhood Small Area Plan was referred to the city’s Planning Commission for consideration of amending the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan.

COVID-19 Update

We hope you and your families are healthy and safe. As you know, our community is facing unprecedented circumstances– certainly not the March Madness some of us we were anticipating! Nonetheless, New Hill will work to provide the best possible service to our community during this time. Check out our March Newsletter to get all of the details on how New Hill Development Corporation is keeping its services up and running even as when the community is staying at home.

New Hill receives Wells Fargo grant to continue financial empowerment efforts

Last week, Wells Fargo awarded the New Hill Development Corporation a grant to continue building financial empowerment in the Charlottesville community.

We are excited to announce their support, which comes at an important moment as we move forward with Operation Hope to develop avenues for wealth building and increase access to financial education in the city.

V.A. Governor Northam signs executive order to advance minority business equity

On July 3rd, 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed an executive order to expand resources and opportunities for V.A.’s small-, women-, minority-, and Veteran-owned businesses.

Speaking about the decision, Northam said “More than 97% of all businesses in Virginia are small businesses and they are truly the economic engine of this commonwealth,” and this executive order will help “level the playing field.”