Virginia Commonwealth University

Guiding Growth: A Growth Management Plan for Powhatan County

This plan offers Powhatan County a series of analyses and recommendations to maintain their rural character. Because of its proximity to the City of Richmond and other more-populated localities, Powhatan has been experiencing accelerated growth recently compared to historically....

Rehouse Richmond: Plan to Address the Eviction Crisis

Rehouse Richmond aims to recommend specific best practices and start-to-finish development of successful organizing strategies for anti-eviction work. The client for this plan, RISC, is an interfaith coalition of congregations across the Richmond region. Richmond has a compoundin...

Stadium Neighborhood Plan, Richmond, Virginia

The purpose of this document is to provide a 20 year comprehensive plan for the Stadium Neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. This document was produced as part of the requirements for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU...

A Comprehensive Audit of Professional Development for K-12 School Leaders in the Commonwealth of Virginia

The intent of this paper is to provide a mixed-methods audit of professional development provided to K-12 school leadership in Virginia's diverse landscape to include identification of providers, funding, effectiveness, and expectations. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, geographi...

Creating Safer Routes to School for Fairfield Court Elementary Students

The purpose of this plan is to conduct a Walkabout study for Fairfield Court Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia through the guidelines of the Safe Routes to School program. The plan seeks to address infrastructural and non-infrastructural issues relating to traffic, safety,...

Parks & Equity: A Framework for Equitable Access in Richmond, VA Parks

Increasingly, cities are investing in their green spaces, such as open spaces and parks, as a strategy to improve the livability of the city, but also to improve the health of its residents. Research finds that access and proximity to green spaces provides a host of benefits to h...

Diversification as a Strategy: A Research-Based Plan to Cultivate New Audiences at the Richmond Symphony

Building a more inclusive audience is not a far-fetched idea; system diversification by its very nature is a performance strategy, not a performance goal. Changing audience demographics requires well laid out plans, achievable goals, effective processes, and a total organizationa...

Implementation Plan for the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust to Operate as a Land Bank

The purpose of this plan is to provide an implementation framework for The Maggie Walker Community Land Trust (MWCLT) to utilize as it establishes its land banking operations. Through land banking, the MWCLT has an opportunity to address three interconnected issues in Richmond; a...

A Strategy for the Cultivation of Community Strength

This professional plan is a community-based template for neighborhoods in the urban landscape that were once thriving and are now struggling with population stability. The study area is found in the south side of Richmond, Virginia in the neighborhoods of Bellemeade and Oak Grove...

A Framework for Forming Resident-Controlled Manufactured Housing Communities in Richmond

Despite manufactured housing representing one of the most affordable, unsubsidized housing options for families in the United States, the nature of ownership in many manufactured housing communities places families at constant risk of displacement. In mobile home parks, where a h...

Review of Student Engagement, Assessment, and High-Impact Practice Implementation by Common Book Programs in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education

Common book programs are widely used by U.S. institutions of higher education to positively impact student engagement and student retention. This capstone project sought to determine the best practices in common book program assessment and high-impact practice implementation. A m...

Saving the Libby Hill Viewshed: Preserving and Enhancing One of Richmond’s Greatest Assets

The view from Libby Hill Park in Richmond's Church Hill neighborhood has been identified as an endangered view, and the possibility of new development changing this view has increased in recent years. This plan explores what this view means to the identity of the neighborhood and...

Infra-sutures: New Perspectives in Responsive Design and Community Engagement

Whether considering the construction of highways, urban renewal, or concentrated poverty, many low-wealth communities of color bear the scars of inequity. These scars are symbols of racial and socioeconomic trauma with deep physical, cultural and economic impact; however, this pl...

Increasing Doctoral Student Completion Rates Within the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University

Research on doctoral education primarily focuses on broad fields of study and general attrition. Often overlooked, is an examination of the student at each stage of their program and the challenges they face that can potentially lead to stopping out. This capstone project explore...

Lower Appomattox River Water Trail Plan

Water Trails are designated boating trails along rivers, lakes, or other waterways, and typically include features associated with land trails. For example, signage, restrooms, and other amenities that support users. Generally, water trails are for paddlecraft: kayaks, canoes, ra...

Impact Investment Strategy: Linking Health & Housing

The purpose of this plan is to create an impact investment strategy for RMHF that explicitly links health and housing. The strategy will use impact investing, an investment strategy that directs capital to enterprises that generate social and or environmental benefits for the sur...

Westwood Multimodal Transportation Plan

Westwood is experiencing an industrial regeneration that will change the way the area is utilized by the surrounding communities. To be proactive, Henrico County is planning for the future by creating an overlay zoning district and striving for a multimodal environment to ensure...

Scott's Addition Green Space Plan: Small Changes Making a Big Impact

Scott’s Addition is a fast growing, postindustrial neighborhood situated on the north side of West Broad street and bordering Henrico county to the west. The current building stock in Scott’s Addition consists of industrial and manufacturing buildings, and warehouses, much of whi...

Making a House a Home: A Community Plan for Regional Engagement on Housing

This plan was developed for Virginia Organizing, a statewide non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice by empowering local communities. The plan was designed to produce a replicable model for organizers embarking on housing campaigns. Research on the...

The Effectiveness of the Virginia Network for Women: A Mixed Methods Study

Over the last 50 years, higher education institutions across the country have experienced growth in enrollment and degree attainment by women. However, despite the increase in educational merit, the representation of women in administrative and leadership roles within higher educ...