Charlottesville releases annual report of economic development activity

Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development has released its annual report for 2024 and it begins with the director reminding readers that the city’s vision statement calls for Charlottesville “to be a place where everyone thrives.”

Chris Engel said his office exists to carry out the economic prosperity goal in the city’s strategic plan.

“A strong economy is essential to the prosperity of this community and everyone calls it home,” Engel said. (review the report)

In 2024, the Office of Economic Development began implementing a new strategic plan developed by the firm Resonance. One achievement has been the hiring of a entrepreneurial specialist which is under the “Equitable Entrepreneurship” goal. (read the plan)

The report also has the story of how a product developed at the University of Virginia called Madidrop is now being marketed and distributed through a company called Silvihere Technologies and how they work with Snow Hill Water of Fluvanna County and Techni-Pak of Greene County.

The report also notes that the city hired the firm SP+ to manage the city’s off-street parking spaces which are now across five different locations. The report does not note that the City of Charlottesville now pays the Charlottesville Parking Center more than $1.8 million a year to rent the Water Street Parking Garage. Here’s one story I wrote. Here’s another.

Other highlights from the report:

• Over 140 people have participated in the Ready to Work program since it was launched in July 2023.
• Over 67 businesses have used the services of GO Hire since that program was launched in 2016 for a total of 161 employees.
• There was a joint meeting of the economic development authorities of Albemarle and Charlottesville. This was not televised so I hired someone to get me the audio and wrote this story.

The report is not available for download and must be viewed on the Issuu platform.

Before you go: This edition was originally posted in the February 14, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then posted to Information Charlottesville soon afterward. The idea is to inform, and it’s all part of Town Crier Productions. If you want to support the work, consider a paid subscription through Substack or become a supporter on Patreon.