Tag: Salvation Army

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In brief 11/27/2024

Former 5th District Congressman Denver Riggleman is expanding his Riggleman Information and Intelligence Group. Supplied photo.

Big RIIG

A cybersecurity and risk intelligence firm founded by former Republican congressman Denver Riggleman recently secured $3 million in seed funding. His company, Riggleman Information and Intelligence Group, said in a November 19 press release that the money will go toward the launch of AI solutions and expanding its workforce and client support.

RIIG specializes in open-source intelligence, using AI technology to offer security and risk management for organizations across government and business sectors. In an evolving cybersecurity landscape, the firm boasts access to 17 intel agencies and collaborations with commercial and academic partners.

Funding was led by the Felton Group, a family office of Charlottesville-based hedge fund manager Jaffray Woodriff. 

“RIIG applauds the support of Felton Group and their appreciation of the vision laid out for advanced AI, cyber threat identification and analysis products set for delivery in 2025,” Riggleman said in the release. 

For Riggleman, the firm represents a return to his business and technology roots. He co-founded a contracting company in 2007 that supported the intelligence community and Department of Defense programs.

The Felton Group invested earlier this year in two other companies with local ties—Caju AI, a platform offering customer engagement solutions, and DoorList, an event-management application. Woodriff, a University of Virginia alum, donated $120 million to establish the university’s School of Data Science in 2019.

Welcome Home (Depot)

Supplied image.

An increasing number of shopping centers have struggled over the last
two decades, creating a “dead mall” phenomenon across the U.S. Charlottesville’s  Fashion Square is no exception, and is trying to buck the trend—starting with a Home Depot set to open in summer 2025.

The home-improvement retailer announced plans for a July 2025 opening following the purchase of the shuttered Sears in September 2022. The new store will create more than 100 jobs, according to Albemarle County, and marks the first Home Depot in the area.

Although foot traffic has declined, Fashion Square sits at the busy intersection of U.S. 29 and Rio Road. Home Depot has agreed to support the county in its Rio29 plan to create a mixed-use, walkable hub at the site. In addition to the former Sears location, Home Depot purchased much of the remaining spaces in the mall for a total investment of more than $26 million.

“This public-private partnership jumpstarts the first development with speed, cleans up environmental contamination present at the site, and significantly contributes to transportation connectivity through the Rio29 area,” Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Chair Jim Andrews said during an August meeting.

Self improvement

Diving back into the headlines, UVA swimmer Gretchen Walsh bested her own American record with a time of 47.35 seconds in the women’s short course 100 butterfly at the Tennessee Invitational on November 21. An Olympic medalist, Walsh made waves earlier this year when she set the world record in the long course 100-meter fly during the U.S. Olympic trials semi-finals. She won four gold and two silver medals at the Paris Olympics, where she competed on Team USA alongside her sister Alex, also a UVA student-athlete. UVA second year and fellow Olympic medalist Claire Curzan set another American record on the last day of the meet, with a time of 1:46.87 in the 200-meter backstroke.

Location TBD

The Salvation Army is looking for a new spot for its thrift store ahead of the anticipated conversion about turning the site into a low-barrier shelter, according to a November 20 Charlottesville Tomorrow article. The creation of a low-barrier, year-round shelter has long been a top priority for city and local nonprofit leaders amid a rising unhoused and housing insecure population. Work on the shelter could begin as early as next year.

Zones of interest

In a bonus newsletter released November 21, Charlottesville City Schools shared updates about its ongoing elementary rezoning project, including the extension of the feedback period through the end of 2024. More information about potential phasing of the rezoning will be available once the community advisory committee reaches a final recommendation, according to Superintendent Royal Gurley.

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City Council mulls proposals to support unhoused people 

A rendering of Center of Hope, the Salvation Army’s high-barrier shelter on Ridge Street. Image via City of Charlottesville.

It’s been just over a year since tents popped up in Market Street Park, and at the October 21 City Council meeting, City Manager Sam Sanders presented an array of proposals to better support not only the area’s unhoused population, but the entire community. Potential projects and services include the creation of a year-round, low-barrier shelter; the launch of a street outreach initiative; and public restrooms on the Downtown Mall.

While cold-weather shelter is available through nonprofit organizations like People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry, there is no year-round, low-barrier shelter in the Charlottesville area. At present, the Salvation Army is the only organization providing year-round shelter services for unhoused people, but space is limited, and it is considered a high-barrier shelter due to requirements for participants, including random drug and alcohol tests.

A rising unhoused population has resulted in an increased demand for shelter beds, exceeding the capacity available at PACEM and the Salvation Army. Estimates for the number of unhoused people in Charlottesville and surrounding areas vary, with a 2023 Point-in-Time count identifying 191 unhoused individuals, though this number is not considered comprehensive.

“I’m standing in front of you [City Council] today saying to you that we can do all the things that are on this list if you are so inclined, but again, reminding you that that means other things won’t necessarily be able to get done or become a little more challenging for us to try to do, and we’ll have to be creative and or wait on some other things,” said Sanders at the council meeting. “Ultimately, this is about defining and taking some bold action. But I also want to point out that this is really about setting new standards and managing expectations. We can’t do everything.”

City Council has until the end of the year to allocate remaining American Rescue Plan funds. Photo by Eze Amos.

Under the plan introduced by Sanders, the city would support the Charlottesville Salvation Army in the conversion of its Cherry Avenue thrift store into a low-barrier shelter, as well as the renovation and expansion of its existing high-barrier shelter on Ridge Street. Upon completion, the low-barrier shelter would have a 50-bed capacity, and the Ridge Street Center of Hope would have more than 100 beds.

Part of Sanders’ proposal would include a major contribution to the Salvation Army’s capital campaign, with $1.25 million currently slated for the thrift store conversion. The city manager also suggested an annual contribution of $200,000 for five years to the nonprofit to help offset the cost of closing the store, with an additional $500,000 each year to support the shelter’s operation.

No organization or collective of nonprofits has committed to running the low-barrier shelter yet, though the Salvation Army indicated it would be willing to handle operations dependent on future conversations with the city.

Most of the money for the shelter and other suggested initiatives would come from American Rescue Plan funds, interest on that money, and an anticipated budget surplus, according to Sanders. The city has until the end of the year to allocate ARP funds, otherwise they will be returned to the federal government.

Other recommendations from Sanders included increasing annual capacity support for the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, filling an already funded homeless services coordinator position. Several pilot initiatives were also proposed.

City Manager Sam Sanders formed a work group in October 2023 to address the homelessness crisis after tents were set up in Market Street Park. Photo by Eze Amos.

“We need restrooms on the Mall that are available, period. And we know that,” said Sanders. He, along with other city officials, have been testing public restroom options, and suggested obtaining three Green Flush Restrooms. The units can be moved with a forklift and serviced like a standard portable toilet, but do not require utilities to be flushable.

 “I don’t wanna be here five years from now and not know that we’ve solved this bathroom problem,” Sanders said. “No one wants it next to them, but that’s what they say about everything.”

Increasing city official presence, especially on and around the Mall, has been a recurrent topic at City Council meetings. As part of that effort, Sanders recommended two dedicated street outreach personnel be introduced on a two-year trial basis through existing grant funding. The creation of these positions would also support the work and capacity of BRACH, which is the continuum of care coordinator for homeless services for not only Charlottesville, but the entire region.

According to Sanders, BRACH’s staff is currently “one and a half people.”

For transitional housing, the city manager suggested purchasing six pallet homes, which are being used for the creation of micro communities around the country. On that topic, Sanders also announced that “the reason you haven’t heard from me on the Avon Levy site, … [is] there is no plan for that site because there’s no need for us to have a plan for that site just yet. Once Premier Circle actually comes live, the shelter is in place, the Center of Hope is up and running, we will know a lot more about what’s going on, and then we can actually tailor that project to the needs that we may have.”

City Council is expected to allocate American Rescue Plan funds and advance other projects by the end of the month.

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In brief: The city’s biggest hurricane hits, bold protest signs and more

Hurricane Camille’s casualty count appeared on the front page of the Daily Progress in the summer of 1969. File photo

Charlottesville’s inland location has helped it dodge the likes of Hurricane Harvey and Irma, but it’s gotten slammed in the past.

Hurricane Isabel

September 19-20, 2003

By the time it hit Virginia, Isabel was a Category 1 storm. Nonetheless, it was a killer, taking 32 lives in the state directly or indirectly, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and two in Albemarle when a car ran off the road during heavy rainfall and crashed into a tree. According to the Cav Daily, two others in vehicles were injured by falling trees, one person was hurt when a tree crashed into a house and a police officer was struck by a branch. The ground was already saturated from previous rain, and trees toppled like bowling pins, including a 250-year-old white oak near Brooks Hall on UVA Grounds. At the height of the power outages, 50,000 local Dominion customers were without power, and some were in the dark for nearly two weeks.

Hurricane Camille

August 19-20, 1969

For its sheer one-two punch—killing 174 when it made landfall as a Category 5 storm on the Mississippi coast, and then two days later as a tropical depression, drowning Nelson County, where 125 people perished—Camille remains the deadliest force of nature to hit central Virginia. Whole families were lost when Camille dumped what’s conservatively estimated as more than 27 inches in eight hours, and even today, you can see the bare spots on the mountains around Lovingston where pounding rain tore off the top soil. Still missing: 33 people.

Hurricane Agnes

June 21, 1972

Agnes, too, was a tropical depression when it hit Scottsville, flooding the town with water that rose 34 feet. That, following Camille’s 30 feet of water, prompted town fathers to seek federal funding for a levee. While no one died in Scottsville, 16 Virginians lost their lives to Agnes, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

Derecho

June 29, 2012

Until high-powered winds roared into Albemarle from the west, we’d never heard the term derecho, which means “straight” in Spanish. The blast killed six people, two of them in Albemarle County—John Porter, 64, when he stepped onto his porch in Ivy, and Catherine Ford, 52, when she got out of her car on Scottsville Road. Nearly 40,000 people lost power, some for a week, and Crozet canceled its Fourth of July celebration because of damage to Claudius Crozet Park.

Microbursts

June 2010

We say microburst, but UVA climatologist Jerry Stenger says it’s more accurately called a “downburst.” Whatever you call them, a spate hit Charlottesville in 2010, and the worst on June 24 left 45,000 without power. Trees came down all over town with the city fire department responding to 31 calls of crunched houses, and another 15 to 20 county homes were in the path of falling trees.

Camille’s casualty count appeared on the front page of the Daily Progress in the summer of 1969.

 

Jackson voted out

City Council unanimously agreed September 5 to send the statue of General Stonewall Jackson packing, along with his Confederate buddy General Robert E. Lee—pending litigation permitting.

Needs improvement

The UVA group charged with reviewing the events of August 11-12, including a white nationalist torch-carrying march through Grounds, found the university could have sought better intel on Unite the Right plans, enforced its open-flame policy and notified the university community when neo-Nazis flooded the premises, among other recommendations.

Mason Pickett. Staff photo

Quote of the Week: Wes is a jackass. —City Council gadfly Mason Pickett takes a sign to the corner of Preston Avenue and McIntire Road.

 

Press conference casualties

Jason Kessler filed assault charges against longtime activist Jeff Winder, 49, and PHAR organizer Brandon Collins, 44, who were among the angry mob that chased the Unite the Right organizer into the arms of police protection August 13, the day after his hate fest invasion resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and injured dozens more.

Western NC transplant

Jeffrey Richardson. Courtesy photo

The Board of Supervisors appointed Cleveland County, North Carolina, county manager Jeffrey Richardson as the new county executive, effective in November. Richardson has 27 years of local government experience, a master’s degree from UNC and a new $217,000 annual paycheck, according to the Daily Progress.

Hometown solace

The Dave Matthews Band, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande and more will perform a free September 24 show in the wake of the deadly August 12 rally. The ticket lottery is over, but a small number will be available at the UVA box office September 15.

Check this out

From left to right: Aimee Atteberry, Bob Kahn, Carolyn Rainey, Antonio Rice, Major James Shiels, Karen Rogers, Erik Greenbaum, and Pat Burnette. Staff photo

C-VILLE Weekly Publisher Aimee Atteberry, the vice chair of the Salvation Army advisory board, presented the nonprofit and beneficiary of this year’s Best of C-VILLE party with a check for $8,017.58 September 12.

Cost of inquiries

Former U.S. attorney/Hunton & Williams partner Tim Heaphy, who is preparing a review of the city’s planning and response to multiple recent alt-right and KKK rallies, will charge $545 an hour with a $100,000 max payment, which he says is a discount. UVA has hired its own outside source with a $250,000 price tag to review its procedures.

Artistic merit

Before its board pulled the plug on Piedmont Council for the Arts, it released a study last month about the economic prosperity
nonprofit arts and cultural orgs rained down upon the greater Charlottesville community in 2016.

$121.8million: Economic impact

2,100: Full-time equivalent jobs

$9.5 million: Government revenue

$36.11 per event: Amount a typical arts attendee spent, beyond the cost of admission

84%: Nonlocal attendees who say they visited to attend an arts or cultural event

 

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Living

LIVING Picks: Week of September 13-19

FAMILY

Youth Film Festival
Friday, September 15

The 16th annual Light House Studio Youth Film Festival showcases movies from local students before they hit the 2018 film circuit. $15-80, 6pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-6992.

NONPROFIT

Salvation Army telethon
Tuesday, September 19

The fifth annual telethon to benefit the Salvation Army will air on CBS19 and WCHV 107.5FM. Donations accepted, 6-8pm. To donate, go to cvilletelethon.org.

FOOD & DRINK

Cheese-making class
Wednesday, September 13

Hobby Hill Farm Fresh will show you how to make your own mozzarella and ricotta cheese, while you sip a glass of sauvignon blanc from Barboursville Vineyards. $45, 1-2pm. The Market at Grelen, 15091 Yager Rd., Somerset. themarketatgrelen.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Hoos Care Kids Fair
Sunday, September 17

Hoos Care Kids Fair benefits the UVA Children’s Hospital and includes obstacle courses, face painting, balloon animals, a scavenger hunt and other carnival activities. Local entertainers and Children’s Hospital doctors will be featured. Free, 1- 5pm. John Paul Jones Arena, 295 Massie Rd. hooscare.org/hoos-care- kids-fair/