Imagining Dillwyn's tomorrow—today.

Participate in shaping Dillwyn's future by taking the community survey for Dillwyn Awakened.

What is Dillwyn Awakened?

Dillwyn Awakened is a guide for the town's future. This plan is being developed as a joint project of VCU and Dillwyn's town council, provided at no expense to the citizens of Dillwyn. The project is directed by Master's candidate of Urban and Regional Planning Studies, Eric Sundberg. Eric is no stranger to Dillwyn—he has regularly visited the town for several years and completed a portion of his undergraduate work nearby, at Longwood University.

The aim of this guide is to expand on the town's current comprehensive plan, providing updates where needed and actionable solutions to improve the town. To understand the needs of Dillwyn's citizens, Dillwyn Awakened will survey the community and local businesses for insight into their perspectives on Dillwyn and its future.

What will this plan do?

This guiding document for the town's development and planning will provide three major components:

A market and labor analysis — this report will give insight into the current market opportunities in the town; is there room for a sporting goods store, a small grocer, or a bar? Additionally, the report looks at labor conditions; which jobs may be at risk, what factors are restricting economic growth, and what can be done to empower Dillwyn's workers.
Identifying the "low-hanging fruit" opportunities — the plan will identify and make recommendations on cost-effective and smart solutions that will benefit the citizens of Dillwyn. Are there missed revenue streams, potential partnerships, civic improvements, or legal powers which could be used to improve life for all Dillwynians? This plan will provide those answers.
Forecast the future — Dillwyn is a town with great bones and many opportunities to build off of a strong foundation. The struggle for any town, including Dillwyn, is identifying those opportunities and challenges as they approach. Dillwyn Awakened will provide a potential play-by-play of the years 2025, 2050, 2075, and 2100. Each quarter-century scenario will look at the biggest risks, challenges, and opportunities for the town, ideally giving the town a handbook to prepare for its future.

When will there be more information about this plan?

This website will document Dillwyn Awakened's development and recommendations. The project lead, Eric Sundberg, will review the findings from our community survey, business survey, and interviews and provide a series of recommendations for the town council. The project will be completed and presented to the town in May of 2023.