10/8: Town Gown Meeting

The second town gown meeting of the 2026 fall semester will be on Thursday, October 8 at 6:30pm at the multipurpose library on the first floor of the Creativity and Innovation District Residence Hall, which is located next to the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown between Kent and Otey streets.

The topic for Thursday will be ‘Entrepreneurship in Action: Community-centered resources turning ideas into Opportunities’ where we’ll learn about two exciting new resources designed to help entrepreneurs in our community turn ideas into thriving businesses from Downtown Blacksburg Inc’s Executive Director, Tracie Hughes and Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center Executive Director, Kiyah Duffey. The Local, a new retail incubator in the heart of downtown Blacksburg, helps aspiring retailers bring their storefront dreams to life. The Entrepreneur Resource Center at Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center provides a home base for entrepreneurs at every stage with space, programs, and people to fuel momentum, activate ideas, and grow the pipeline of the region’s next great companies.

Town Gown is a collective of town and Virginia Tech staff, students, and citizens who meet six times a year to engage in community conversations on a wide array of topics. These meetings provide a forum for education and constructive dialogue to create a better understanding of our community. Town Gown works towards strengthening, nurturing, and sustaining relationships across all cross-sections of our community to create a sense of camaraderie, communication, and service for the betterment of the town and university.

For more information, contact Deputy Town Manager, Matt Hanratty at mhanratty@blacksburg.gov.