Ansted Mayor Romie A. "Pete" Hobbs was surprised by a recent survey of the resources available in his town.

He had no idea that a well-known housing contractor lived near the northern Fayette County community. Since discovering that Mike Gray, of Mike Gray Contracting Inc., lives there, the contractor has helped Ansted with a project to provide affordable housing.

"He was eager to be part of the project," Hobbs said.

And that was just one of numerous resources Ansted leaders found with the help of a community resources survey they conducted as part of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh's Blueprint Communities Program. Ansted is one of 10 West Virginia communities that are part of the Blueprint program in West Virginia, which started in March 2007, said Neil Cotiaux, spokesman.

The 10 West Virginia communities are: Ansted, the south side of Fairmont, Gilmer County, McDowell County, Mullens, Ritchie County, St. Albans, Salem, Shinnston and Williamson.

FHLB Pittsburgh is one of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks in the U.S., Cotiaux said. The federal government established them during the Great Depression to focus on housing finance.

"More recently, we expanded to include community and economic development," he said. "That's why we developed Blueprint Communities."

The program started in Pennsylvania in 2005, expanded to West Virginia in 2007 and then to Delaware in 2008, Cotiaux said. The three states have a total of 41 Blueprint communities.

Under the Blueprint program, each community selected a core team of eight representatives who received training, said Laura Rye, community investment consultant for West Virginia. The teams received their initial training in September 2007.

"We gave them homework assignments to complete," she said. "It was intensive. They all stood up and did their work."

The community revitalization training included workshops on identifying and developing community resources, team building, asset mapping and visioning and planning, she said.

Objectives

As part of the project, each community developed a list of goals and objectives. In Ansted, one of the major concerns was a lack of housing, Hobbs said. Much of the rental housing in the area predates the 1930s, but the community has seen recent construction and remodeling thanks to the Blueprint plan, he said. Now, the area has modern apartments, which should help retain young people in the area.

Ansted formed its Blueprint Communities committee in partnership with the Ansted In Motion Committee, which was established in the 1990s, Hobbs said. In addition to housing, the Blueprint committee focused on wealth retention and reinvesting in the community.

Some of the goals involved more than bricks and mortar projects. In Williamson, for example, part of the focus is on community health, Mayor Darrin McCormick said.

"We set realistic goals that we could accomplish," he said. "We focused on adult obesity and diabetes. We wanted a diabetes education center, a walking program and to establish a family medicine program."

One of the major goals in Shinnston was for the community to re-brand itself, said LaReta Lowther of WesBanco Bank, who is part of the Blueprint committee.

"We're halfway between Clarksburg and Fairmont," Lowther said. "We're 10 miles from the FBI facility and also from the new United Hospital Center. We're a bedroom community and we wanted to develop a new marketing approach."

Shinnston's motto used to be, "In the heart of the bituminous coal fields." The new motto is, "In the heart of the hills."

Successes

Shinnston's committee developed a series of seven goals and about 30 specific objectives as part of its plan, Lowther said. They have accomplished about three-fourths of them.

"One key thing we wanted to do was build a new community building -- a center for the community if you will -- a place for people to gather," she said.

They were able to partner with the senior citizens agency to accomplish that goal, Lowther said.

One of the most important parts of the training is developing community partnerships, especially with local financial institutions, Rye said. But it goes beyond that. In Williamson, the Blueprint committee has teamed up with the McDowell County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce and other groups, McCormick said.

"We have the ability to combine resources," he said.

One reason for the success of the program in Ansted is the assets the committee discovered in the community, Hobbs said. The community assets survey yielded some surprising results.

"I was astounded to find out that 13 percent of our residents have a four-year college degree or better," he said.

Now that those kinds of assets have been identified, the committee has the chance to utilize them for the betterment of the community, Hobbs said. But it's not always easy selling a new vision.

"It was a challenge selling our vision to the banking community ... and selling it to people outside of our area of influence," Hobbs said.

But once residents and community organizations saw they were serious, more became involved, he said.

Community Involvement

Including the communities in the process has also been a key to the success of the Blueprint program, Lowther said. Shinnston's committee recently designed an activities park with the help of area school children. Committee members visited area schools and let children share their ideas about what should be in the park.

Becoming involved in the Blueprint Communities program has also had a snowball effect in Williamson, McCormick said.

"I definitely think so," he said. "As individuals or different groups become involved, it becomes contagious."

To keep the public updated on their progress, each Blueprint Community has a Web page outlining their plans. Those Web sites are available through the program's main site at www.blueprintcommunities.com.