The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept the transfer of ownership of the Danville Welcome Center from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to the City of Danville.
The Welcome Center, located at 645 River Park Drive, was owned by the City of Danville until Feb. 26, 2008, when the ownership was transferred to the Virginia Tourism Corporation. As part of the agreement between the two organizations, the Virginia Tourism Corporation provided funding annually for the operations and maintenance of this facility.
In return, the City of Danville oversaw its operations.
After the establishment earlier this year of a new regional tourism program within the Danville Office of Economic Development and Tourism, staff and administration felt it was best to gain local ownership of this property. The Virginia Tourism Corporation agreed to this transfer, in addition to the continuation of the annual financial support.
The Danville Office of Economic Development and Tourism assumed responsibility for the operations of the Welcome Center on July 2, and it will incorporate this facility into its overall regional tourism strategy to drive additional visitors into the Southern Virginia region.
In other matters Tuesday night, the City Council appropriated a federal grant for Project Imagine’s sports-based youth program. The program is an expansion of Project Imagine, which is an evidence-based Community Violence Intervention Collaborative model that has been identified by the Urban Institute as a national model.
The expansion will consist of using athletic activities, supplemented by workforce apprenticeships, to assist gang-affiliated youth in decreasing community violence.