Today’s sponsor: Panorama Natural Burial is reimagining death care through natural burial, land conservation, and community
There is a gap in the ability of contemporary humans to use technology and an understanding of the history of how it was deployed. How many of us know that Syncom 3, the world’s first geostationary satellite, was launched on August 19, 1964? How many of us know how that differs from a geosynchronous orbit? Charlottesville Community Engagement surmises there is a great deal of information to be known and this is the 1110’s regular edition of a newsletter intended to share what it can.
In this edition:
Council voted unanimously to allocate $3 million in state funds to the Salvation Army’s Center for Hope
Emmy award winner Joshua Barr will be Charlottesville’s next Chief Prosperity Officer
Want to serve on the Albemarle School Board? You have until Friday to apply
Bellair Farms receives funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia to help increase pork sales to local restaurants and suppliers
Several names were misspelled in yesterday’s section on appointments to Boards and Commissions. Hillary Wehrle is on the Historic Resource Committee. Anne Hemenway is on the JMRL Board. Tahlia Long, Lise Kuecker, and Brian Homet are on the Sister Cities Commission. Avan Batten is on the Social Services Advisory Board. I regret those errors.
Additionally, James Brown is on the Piedmont Family YMCA Board. A different name was read earlier in the August 17 City Council meeting and a vote was taken at the end of the meeting with the correct person for the position.
WTJU is pleased to announce our brand new mobile app! You can download a version from either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Here are the links to both:
The WTJU app is the place to tune in and listen live to WTJU, WXTJ, and Charlottesville Classical. Aside from the live stream, listen to archived shows, view recent songs, playlists, and program schedules, check out videos of live performances, stay up-to-date on WTJU’s most recent news and articles, and more!
Live chat with your favorite hosts, share stories with your friends, and tune into your community all in the palm of your hand.
One task in the near future will be come up with a way to explain how much the City of Charlottesville and other local governments are spending to provide a place for people to say overnight if they don’t have their own home.
On August 17, City Council voted to spend $3 million of a $7 million appropriation from the Commonwealth of Virginia on the Salvation Army’s capital campaign to raise $28 million to expand their shelter on Ridge Street.
“The Salvation Army has as a project that they are hoping to get started on a plan for a four-story, approximately 47,000-square-foot building, which is an increase in capacity of 15,000 square feet,” Sanders said. This will increase bed capacity from 55 to 114 beds, and an additional seven 2-bedroom suites will be included.”
The project will also double the capacity of the dining room to 120 seats.
Charlottesville has already provided $3 million to the project using a portion of its share from the American Rescue Plan Act. Sanders said the additional funds would help close the gap but not complete it.
The additional $4 million from the Commonwealth of Virginia will go to other transitional housing seats. Sanders said the city has projects in mind and is in negotiations related to that fund. He explained what the purpose would be.
“The intent is that transitional housing is where individuals will go when they leave the shelter,” Sanders said. “So it is the next rung on the ladder. It may not be an opportunity that they are quite ready for full independence, but there will be wraparound services that can continue to be available to those individuals.”
None of the $4 million would be used at Holiday Drive which is intended as an emergency shelter with less-stringent rules for entry than the Salvation Army. City Councilor Michael Payne called the second tranche of city funding an investment.
“The Salvation Army is not the one only solution,” Payne said. “I think the Salvation Army themselves would acknowledge that. It’s a high-barrier shelter versus Holiday Drive, which will be a low-barrier shelter, but it is an important critical piece of one option that needs to be available both for the high-barrier shelter beds as well as this project will include transitional housing including units for families.”
Derek Alley, the Salvation Army’s counsel for the capital campaign, said the figure of over $28 million breaks down as $22.2 million in construction, a contingency fund of $1.8 million, $2.2 million to furnish the expansion, and another $2.2 million for an endowment to fund site operations.
Alley said the city’s total contribution would bring the total to $21.3 million, or about three-fourths of the way complete the campaign.
“We are working very hard to wrap up the fundraising segment of this capital campaign by the end of August,” Alley said, saying work will begin as soon as all of the capital costs are in.
Council voted 5-0 to move forward with the funding and took a second vote to waive a second reading to allow the funding to go to the Salvation Army more quickly.
Previous coverage:
Charlottesville Mayor Wade announces steps to be taken at Free Bridge encampment, July 12, 2026
City of Charlottesville develops brochure in advance of encampment “transition”, July 24, 2026
Charlottesville to pay outside groups up to $4 million to manage emergency shelter and help to clear encampments, August 4, 2026
Building permit issued for work on 2000 Holiday Drive, August 5, 2026
Voices speak out against upcoming ending of Rivanna River encampments, August 7, 2026
Sanders: 2000 Holiday Drive is just part of the city’s response to homelessness, August 7, 2026
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When Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders reshuffled his administrative team last September, one of the two deputy city manager positions was retitled Chief Prosperity Officer.
“This role focuses on the priorities set by the City Manager in what is referred to as ‘the Laboratory’– a place where we dream, imagine, try, test, assess, evaluate, discard, change, and pivot,” reads the original memo and quoted in a story I wrote last October.
The memo went on to say that the position would be connected to the Police Civilian Oversight Board, the Human Rights Commission, Home to Hope, and work on implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The first person to hold the position was Ashley Marshall who had been serving as one of Sanders’ two deputies. Marshall left earlier this year to become Chief of Community Services in Savannah, Georgia.
On August 17, Sanders announced that Joshua Barr has been hired for the role.
“Joshua comes with a very nice resume, a history that I will indeed expect that he will share with you as he interacts with us talking about our various prosperity priorities, which is lifting everyone in our community, and we definitely look forward to having him here,” Sanders said.
Barr’s most recent job has been serving as president of his own consulting company called Raising the Barr. Before that he was the executive director of the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Department from October 2015 to July 2021. In that position he won an Emmy for a documentary called “Breaking Bread, Building Bridges.”
Learn more about his time in Iowa in this article in the Des Moines Register.
Barr is a former attorney with a degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law and a Masters of Business Administration
“I’m looking forward to listening, learning, and working alongside residents and City staff to tackle the issues that affect people’s ability to move up the socioeconomic ladder and experience a greater quality of life,” Barr said. “I’m particularly interested in understanding Charlottesville’s history and connecting that history to the opportunities and challenges we face today.”
The usage of the term “laboratory” is one of Sanders’ choosing and is intended to help people in new ways. For instance, he said Barr will be involved in efforts to increase access to childcare.
“Joshua will be a part of that conversation and other conversations and he’ll be asked to seek other opportunities for us to be a part of things like that that bring resources to the City of Charlottesville,” Sanders said.
There is still an open assistant city manager position since Evan Pilachowski left at the end of the May after five months on the job.
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There is a vacancy for the at-large seat on the Albemarle County School Board now that the resignation of Allison Spillman is effective.
The remaining six members will select an interim member from a pool of applicants with submissions due this Friday. Qualified candidates must be registered to vote in Albemarle County.
The application period opened on August 10. Interviews will be held on September 10.
There will be a special meeting to hold a public hearing on September 14 with details to be announced. An appointment will be made at the September 24, 2026 regular meeting.
There is one other recent example of the Albemarle School Board appointing one of its members on an interim basis. In January 2026, they selected Leslie Pryor to fill a vacancy in the Rio District created with the death of Charles Pace in December 2024.
Six people had spoken at a public hearing on January 23, 2025 with all of them asking the board to appoint Jim Dillenbeck. Dillenbeck had placed second in the 2024 general election for the seat.
Both Pryor and Dillenbeck ran for the seat in the 2025 election and Dillenbeck won with a slight majority.
Tell others of this website if you would like it to keep going and growing.
The organization Livable Cville is hosting an online discussion on Wednesday night on the City of Charlottesville’s efforts to address an intractable issue. Panelists will review plans to close the encampments and open an emergency shelter. One of the representatives is from the Arizona-based organization slated to operate. The event will conclude with Q&A to help further our understanding of this complex situation.
Speakers:
Shayla Washington, Executive Director, Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless (BRACH)
Jen Fleisher, Charlottesville City Councilor
Brittnie Stanton, Chief Program Officer, Central Arizona Shelter Service
Registration link: https://events.humanitix.com/webinar-homelessness-in-charlottesville-whats-the-plan
A working farm in southern Albemarle County has received funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia to buy a refrigerated box truck to increase the number of pork products they are able to sell to clients across the area.
“By improving transportation between its partner businesses, Stock Provisions and Honest Meats, [Bellair Farms] can better serve its multiple customer channels,” reads an information release sent out on August 18 by the office of Governor Abigail Spanberger.
The Commonwealth of Virginia like many governments has opportunities for groups that seek funding to move forward with an idea be it the provision of a service or assistance moving forward with a business venture.
One of these is the Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development grant program within the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
“Small farmers, food producers, local food systems advocates and others interested in building their community’s local food and farming infrastructure are encouraged to learn more about the program and work with their localities to identify and develop suitable projects,” reads a description of the program on the VDACS website.
The AFID program has funded several local projects in partnership with local economic development authority.
the Albemarle County Economic Development Authority. These include Potter’s Craft Cider’s decision in 2019 to relocate operations to Neve Hall south of Charlottesville which included a $50,000 AFID grant as part of a larger $1.56 million package. That included a match from the Albemarle Economic Development Authority.
The Three Notch’d Brewing Company also received an AFID facility development grant to assist their move in 2017 matched by a $50,000 investment from the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority.
The $11,000 award to Bellair Farms is one of 14 new recipients of AFID infrastructure grants announced by Governor Spanberger on Tuesday.
“These infrastructure grants are extremely beneficial for the state’s small and mid-size farms, helping to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers,” Spanberger is quoted. “Modernizing local food supply infrastructure is a win-win for Virginia — it supports local agriculture and strengthens communities with improved access to fresh, locally grown food.”
According to materials presented at the March 17, 2026 Albemarle EDA meeting, that entity will make an $11,000 match.
“The Farm raises and processes 60–80 hogs annually for its own markets and has the land, feed systems, and management capacity to scale up,” reads a memo from that meeting. “As a result of Business Retention and Expansion work, staff was approached by Bellair Farm with the request to support [the] application.”
If you’re interested in more details about how these work, take a look at the two-page resolution.
A company called Furniture by Design in Orange County will receive $25,000 to build new wood processing facilities.
“AFID funding will be used to install a new kiln and construct lumber storage buildings.AFID funding will be used to install a new kiln and construct lumber storage buildings,” the release continues.
The other recipients are:
Appomattox County, Appomattox FFA Alumni Agricultural Complex — $50,000
Bedford County, EcoFriendly Foods Initiative — $38,678
Carroll County, The Cannery Equipment and Learning Initiative — $50,000
Covington, The Nettleton Property — $50,000
Grayson County, Farm to School and Value-Added Processing Initiative — $38,595
Northampton County, Pearl Market — $50,000
Page County, Page Valley Food and Visitor Hub — $50,000
Powhatan County, Twin Oaks Farm Store — $10,000
Russell County, Redbud Creamery — $10,000
Kenbridge, Kenbridge Farmers Market Expansion Project — $50,000
New Market, New Market Downtown Marketplace — $50,000
Virginia Beach, Creekmore’s Place Farm to Table Project — $24,249
Articles by other journalists which not be fully vetted to your personal tastes so please be careful reading them or do not read if you think you might be disappointed in me for putting them here:
Organic grocery owner pivots to data centers, David Poole, Poole Report, August 18, 2026
SCC commissioner, former NextEra attorney declines to recuse herself from merger case, Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury, August 19, 2026
Spanberger signs executive order to boost Virginia’s emergency preparedness, Charlotte Renee Woods, Virginia Mercury, August 19, 2026
I think. I’ve not actually checked that fact. I check all of the other facts here, but the reality is it’s a non-sequitur anyway. Is that a commonly used phrase these days? Or, perhaps we can stop asking such questions because I’ve used it for a long time both as a phrase and as the occasional framing device as a writer.
I got angry this morning when I got to work. A paid subscriber took issue with a link I had posted in the additional links story. You can read their comment and my response which concluded with me taking their paid subscription off of auto-renew. I was angry, and acknowledge that, and I’m trying to figure out why.
I’m not going to try to explain because I’m still trying to figure out why. I think I have this tremendous sense that we’re a country splitting further and further apart on all kinds of issues, and looking back at my career and life, I can see how. I do this work to try to unify people and the comment just reminded me of how futile my quest may be.
Every single day I see how our information ecosystem is set up to prioritize conflict. I remember back to being in my early 20’s working for my dad listening to talk radio and hearing hosts tell their listeners exactly who to hate, who not to trust. I remember one editor of a local information outlet saying eight years ago that their job was to tell people who the bad people were.
Is that what the job of a journalist is? To shape how you receive the information? Do I have to now vet every single article I post against a rubric based on how the majority of readers feel
I do not know any answers. All I have is doubt, and guilt at the moment that I got angry in a comment thread. I’m still because I dislike what it reflects - we are a divided country in which everyone is constantly insisting they are the only correct side.
My only salvation for sanity is to insist I do not have the answers. That is not my job. Every single day is one filled with doubt as I put factual stones together from one end of the newsletter to the other. I do this work because it seems important, but what’s it all about, Alfie?
In any case, work begins on the next one after I mow the lawn. I listen to the song and wonder if it’s time to live it out. Time to further flesh out the escape plan.
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