HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – The city of Harrisonburg was selected to receive the Southern Cities Economic Initiative Grant by the National League of Cities.
Harrisonburg was chosen out of dozens of cities in the South to help drive growth. Peirce Macgill, the city’s deputy director of economic development, said the process began in early 2025. The city was selected out of more than a hundred applicants to be in the planning stage. After that decision, Harrisonburg was ultimately selected to be one of 14 cities to receive the grant.
Macgill said Harrisonburg received $52,000 from the grant, which will go toward the Harrisonburg Entrepreneurship Development Initiative. This program helps those who have a passion for a business find the skills they need to make the business successful.
“This extra funding will allow us to do more hours of business training,” Macgill said. “The real goal is to grow the business owner themselves. People will have a passion for the business, and they can be really good at that passion but not have the business skills they need.”
The programs helps businesses learn marketing skills, people skills and accounting skills — anything that could be valuable to an entrepreneur. Macgill said the first couple of years are the most crucial for any business’s future, and the city wants to continue to support people in the city.
Macgill said this program has helped a lot of Latino-owned businesses get off the ground and fully functioning. He added that the people who have been through the HEDI program have voiced their support for the help they received.
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