The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Main Street (VMS) program has awarded Believe in Bristol, Inc. a SmArP (Small Area Plan) grant for our downtown/commercial district.  The SmArP grant was made available to communities with applications that comply with the following general criteria:

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1. Promote a community’s unique identity-defining assets—both built and cultural; 

2. Promote inclusive collaboration and engagement with a vast and diverse set of local partners, leaders, stakeholders, and residents; 

3. Promote local entrepreneurs, small businesses, women- and/or minority-owned businesses, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and small-scale development; 

4. Promote equal access to opportunity and thoughtfully acknowledge and address diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) challenges and opportunities; and 

5. Promote the awareness, growth and financial sustainability of the local Main Street organization. ​

Believe in Bristol is partnering with the City of Bristol, Virginia to engage in a small area plan bounded generally by MLK Jr Blvd to the east, Beaver Creek to the north, Piedmont Avenue to the west, and State Street to the south.