CHARLESTON, W.Va.– Veterans, military members and their families now have a new support building in Charleston.
Thursday afternoon, Patriot Guardens and the West Virginia Military Authority’s Economic Development had a ribbon cutting to reveal their new Base Innovations building on Smith Street.
Base Innovations is a small business development and resource center for military and veterans. It was in collaboration with the West Virginia Military Authority’s Economic Development and Patriot Guardens programs. The Patriot Guardens program was created in 2016, and since then has strived to provide hands-on training and business development programs for veterans and families.
And the celebration comes two years after Melissa Stewart, Director of Patriot Guardens and Cindy Bailey, Director of Economic Development for the West Virginia Military Authority were approached about the opportunity.
“(The guard) came to Melissa and I, and just said, we know we have all of this programming, is this something that you can see as useful to house some of that,” Bailey said. “And so, we kind of put our brains together and put together a plan which became our submissions for our funding.”
Melissa Stewart
And Stewart said the programs are expanding but it’s bringing it closer to home.
“I think this is groundbreaking for our program,” Stewart said. “Like we said we have an urban farm in Dunbar and a then we have a 100-acre apple orchid in Summersville. But this now gives us a location finally here in the hub of Charleston, to be able to take our producers and put them truly into a scenario that can make them fully successful from beginning to end.”
And Bailey, says that the new building can be used by everyone.
Cindy Bailey
“People can have sort of a one stop shop for resources when it comes to veterans in the community, especially in relationship in small business development, small business startup,” Bailey said.
The new building’s location puts it across Capitol Market, which to Stewart is a perfect location.
“Being across from Capitol Market and the partnership that we have with them, allows us to really show those in product opportunity, especially as that kitchen comes into play,” Stewart said. “But just to interact with other individuals within this small but enlarging community to be able to show what a small business that is run by a military member or family (looks like).”
The Patriot Guardens program was based off of agriculture, like the farm and apple orchid Stewart mentioned, but now is able to offer something more to veterans and their families.
“So, it doesn’t have to be agriculture, it’s just how we initiated as a program but as we have evolved, we see that there’s room for anything anybody wants to bring to the table and if we don’t have the expertise, we have so many partners that can bring that to the forefront,” Stewart said.
She also said that the Guard could decide to open another Base Innovations facility somewhere if the support keeps pouring in for the program.
While the program focuses on business management and development, they also offer help veterans find jobs with the Jobs and Hope in West Virginia program, workforce development to help veterans train, network and enhance their skills. People can also rent out personal offices for an hourly rate or an extended amount of time, conferences room are available for people who are wanting to host meetings, seminars or training sessions.