Foundation wins Tobacco Commission grant, outlines $1.1 million regional destination plan

Kim, the foundation’s executive director, told the board the organization published its annual report and secured several grants to advance destination development across Southwest Virginia.

"We did get the Tobacco Commission Grant, for $127,000, and this is actually going to leverage 2 ARC grants a little bit over $1,000,000," Kim said, adding the foundation also received a $15,000 Virginia Humanities award to support the Round The Mountain initiative.

Why it matters: board members said the combined funding and selection of a regional planning firm give the foundation the resources to produce a shared 10‑year creative‑economy plan. The plan will include an asset inventory, an economic‑impact setting analysis and a data dashboard intended to support grant applications and local economic decisions.

Kim said the foundation selected Boone‑based Destination by Design for the planning contract and will launch extensive stakeholder engagement: public meetings in every county and independent city across the region, plus a visitor market‑research effort and group‑tour studies.

"Visitor surveys…are gonna go out in April, May ish," Kim said, and the results will feed a dashboard that partners can log into to pull data for grant proposals and marketing decisions.

The executive director also reviewed recent environmental and recovery projects, including a 32‑trail assessment after Hurricane Helene and high‑definition stream studies of the New River and a planned study of the Clinch River; staff said results will be shared with federal and state partners to support cleanup and restoration work.

Next steps: staff will begin county‑level engagement this spring, distribute visitor surveys in April–May, and return to the board with project milestones and the first drafts of the regional plan.