Research + Readiness = Responsibility

Each year, the Longview Chamber assembles a delegation of approximately 30 community leaders to visit a peer city and learn best practices. InterCity Visits are an opportunity for Chamber members and staff, elected officials, business leaders, educational administrators, young professionals, and regional partners to gather ideas and insights from cities overcoming challenges similar to our own. This year 31 individuals went on a mission trip to Charlotte, NC.

Attendees were challenged to self-select into a team to research a specific part of the program. They were charged with:

1. Examine experiences from this trip. Extract what you have learned and write it down.

2. Be willing to stretch themselves by sharing lessons learned with peers, friends, and family.

3. Upon returning to the View, identify people who would like to learn more about what you experienced and invite them to our August board meeting where teams will present their take a ways and next steps.

4. For those who had participated in prior InterCity trips they are to draw experiences and continue to connect dots.

5. Be the best version of ourselves, work together, bring others to the table so we can build the Longview that allows all to live their dreams and be prosperous.

WHY Charlotte?

Charlotte is a thriving, opportunity-rich community that is attracting new people at a rate that makes it one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. A 2014 study conducted by Raj Chetty, Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University, ranked Charlotte last for economic mobility. The study spurred regional, crosssector collaboration and action in how Charlotte addresses key determinants of mobility like childcare and education, college and career readiness, and child and family stability while simultaneously focusing on cross-cutting factors of segregation and social capital. Longview shares many of these same challenges.

WHAT Is Expected from Attendees?

To leave with a better understanding how to conduct a regional visioning process that involves community engagement; use the output to redefine and communicate community priorities, and what community stands for (branding).

Be able to identify best practices for business/community engagement, including focus areas, resourcing of needs, and organizing for action in “defining moments” of challenge and/or opportunity.

Be prepared to apply bold, innovative, forward-thinking to economic development that involves new financing tools to unlock more of the city and region’s growth potential.

Commit to model practices that enable (vs. inhibit) success and acknowledge the importance of a healthy downtown core; build relationships that support regional collaboration.

We hope you will enjoy the “mini” photo gallery of WHAT was included on the agenda.

Day 1 - Opening Reception

Day 1

Welcome Reception and Overview

The opening evening provided an opportunity for attendees to get to know each other and begin discussing the areas they wanted to become laser focused on.

Speakers from Charlotte Regional Alliance

Day 2

Our morning kicked off with speakers from the Charlotte Regional Alliance and the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council.

From the Alliance Building we began our deeper dive into the Charlotte transformation story by heading to Camp North End.

Several members from the City of Charlotte’s Development and planning team met with the Longview delegation to discuss how urban planning works in their community. The team focused on how they design Corridors of Opportunity and work with developers like Camp North End. ATCO Properties purchased the 76-acre site and opened it to the public for the first since 2017. They began by inviting people to explore the rich history of the property and demonstrating the possibilities that this campus offers for economic growth. Today the site boasts of eateries, offices, retail, and fun.

Camp North End Warehouse

Camp North End Park

Camp North End

Understanding Uptown with Charlotte Center City Partners

Uptown Charlotte is known as the place where everyone can count on feeling Uplifted and Upbeat. It is the city’s center for commerce and culture. This strong urban core continues to work to bring on-street entertaining, pop-UP vendors, green parks retailers, and eateries to support Charlotte’s urban core. This district is managed by the Charlotte Center City Partners. Their vision is for the city center to be viable, livable, memorable and sustainable, with modern infrastructure, a tapestry of unique neighborhoods, and a diversity of thriving business.

McColl Center

An important aspect is the continuation of the growth is making the city center pedestrian friendly and walkable, with comfortable and interesting neighborhoods like the arts district. Attendees had the opportunity to tour and learn about the creation of the Visiting and Performing Arts Center (VAPA) and the McColl Center.

The afternoon concluded with visiting Cyclelink in Fourth Ward and learning more about how Charlotte city center was introducing more and more complete streets by widening sidewalks and adding bike lanes. Similar to what Longview is doing with our first complete street on Mobberly.

Cyclelink in Fourth Ward

Optimist Hall provided the perfect ending to day 2 with a tour, short program, plus dinner and fun!

Optimist Hall

VAPA Concept

Day 3

Our morning on day 3 started with a surprise thunderstorm. Fortunately, our group is very flexible and didn’t mind the down pour after spending day 2 walking around in 100+ heat.

RailYard Courtyard

South End

Quickly we transitioned to the RailYard Courtyard at South End with the Center City Partners team.

Rain showers didn’t keep our group inside for long which allowed us to continue our learning at the Urban Design Center in South End. Because of our research on alley redevelopment opportunities in Tulsa, OK and Greenville, SC attendees enjoyed seeing how the South End area maximized these spaces.

Another unique feature to the Urban Design Center is their mission to advance the quality of Charlotte’s built environment and bring public awareness to the importance of urban design. The center reveals how design influences quality of life and economic resilience, and advocates for great public places in a livable city.

Uptown Alleys

The Charlotte Rail Trail allowed attendees the opportunity to experience first hand an urban experience can be found in the most unexpected places. This area winds through the heart of South End along the light rail tracks and has become a 3.5 mile linear public park that connects the community together and provides access to restaurants, breweries, bars, shops, public art and more.

Charlotte Rail Trail

After lunch the team headed to the purpose-built community known as the Renaissance West Community Initiative (RWCI). The mission of RWCI to promote a collaborative community centered on quality housing, education, health wellness and opportunity. RWCI serves as the community quarterback to end intergenerational poverty and improve economic mobility. They believe in the extraordinary impact of a holistic, place-based approach that includes mixed-income housing, a cradle-to-career education continuum, and wraparound services including health, after school, academic support, recreation, and job training programs. Attendees heard first hand from one of the founders Laura Clark (now the United Way Director for the Carolinas) and the CEO of RWCI about the formation, the challenges, and the successes of this district.

Charlotte Knights Stadium

Day 3 concluded on the rooftop of the Charlotte Knights Stadium for a pupstyle reception and dinner plus the game!

RWCI

In closing we want to be sure and say Thank You to our Sponsors and invite YOU to our recap and next steps meeting on Thursday, August 18th! Attendees have broken up into teams and will be making presentations on their key take aways and dreams for Longview’s future. If you would like to participate please register today!

RWCI Steam Academy

RWCI Presentation

Quotes from our Attendees

Michael R. Shirley

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, CITY OF LONGVIEW

My dream for Longview is to develop urban districts where we can capitalize on the historic identities of areas like The Junction and Midtown (between downtown and CGS) by creating places where people want to live and work and are destinations for unique shopping and entertainment. Creating old meets new “experiences”. Similar to the South End and Uptown Charlotte.

Kristen Ishihara

ATTORNEY AND CITY COUNCILWOMAN

I have thoroughly enjoyed every InterCity Trip with the Chamber that I’ve attended. The ideas and initiatives that are sparked and brought back to Longview are truly capable of (and are already!) changing our community for the better. Spending time with others that love Longview and invest time to improve our community is invigorating and I want to encourage anyone considering the trip, that it is well worth it!

Dr. Sherry Chance

VICE PRESIDENT FOR CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS

This is the fourth intercity trip with the Longview Chamber that I have been on as a participant. My observation is that this was one of the best groups! The size was right, and the mix of people was excellent (some had previous experience; some were new for their first intercity trip). The hotel was very nice and located well. The group was very engaged from the get-go. Your organization was excellent, as always, but especially so in regard to letting us know of the four areas of focus and the expectations from the start of the trip.

Charlotte is a much larger city than Longview with some resources that we don’t have, but I do believe we witnessed some programs and opportunities that we could scale to Longview.

Jennifer Ware

SENIOR VP, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS VERABANK

It was inspiring to see what can be accomplished when you have all partners - businesses, nonprofits, the city, and the county - working together. We have those strong relationships already in our community, and I’m excited to see how we can leverage that strength to support big ideas and investment in quality-of-life in Longview.

Dr. Evan Dolive

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | UNITED WAY

It is my hope that through the alignment and imagination of community partners and civic leaders, we will harness the opportunity that is before us. This opportunity is one that can revitalize and strengthen Longview and the surrounding areas. While it will take a clear and honed vision, as well time and energy, I believe the end result will be significant. I am excited to see what the power of a united community can do.

Douglas Case

TRANSFORMATION LONGVIEW

When we visited Charlotte, the best moments were when we saw affordable housing mixed with job skill training, business development happening by revitalizing nontraditional places, and watched organizations collaborate to impact their city. I realized that our city is on the right track; we just need to scale the projects and continue to collaborate for our city to improve. I am excited about the future improvements we will make based on the lessons we learned going on the inter city trip! I loved building lasting friendships while dreaming, collaborating, and networking with others who have a heart for our city.

Hailey Barkhimer

EASTMAN LEARNING SERVICES MANAGER

I’d like to see Longview recognize the lessons learned from Charlotte by ensuring that we balance great future development and entertainment opportunities with community living needs in our long-term plan.

Clay Thompson, CRC

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND REGIONAL LENDING MANAGER | TEXAS BANK AND TRUST

The Charlotte North Carolina Intercity Trip really opened my eyes to the possibilities for making Longview, Texas a destination City. It was not an overnight success for Charlotte but, took individuals with vision, persistence, and city-wide relationships to start a dream and see that dream become successful through many phases of implementation. Longview can be just as magnificent and successful! We have to think big, must have a vision, and add in persistence and leverage the relationships between the non-profit and profit world along with partnerships with city and county leadership. It will not happen overnight, but seeds have been planted and we need to water those seeds to grow a better Longview.

Hank Pavlovsky

SERVICES DIRECTOR | CLEAN CUT

The Charlotte trip was my first InterCity Trip. It was very enlightening! My hope is we will look at sustainable ways to repurpose older buildings to create destination areas the way Charlotte did.