PETERSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Community Resource Center (VCRC) will offer a one-stop-shop of sorts to help people when it opens next week in downtown Petersburg.
“Petersburg is not just in the heart of Virginia, it is the heart of Virginia,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Tuesday after announcing another collaboration with the city.
This initiative relocates the city’s Freedom Support Center to a larger building to help more people by bringing state, local and other organizations under one roof. For example, the center will offer services to help people in need find a job, get a health screening or access financial support.
“So when you walk through these doors, all of the various partners who have come together to make this more than just a building, to make it come alive with services and opportunity,” Youngkin said. “They will all be inside.”
Crews were putting the finishing touches inside the building, which is located at 22 West Washington Street, on Wednesday.
“I think this center’s going to be very busy because of the partners we have in here,” Al Vincent with the Virginia Community Resource Center said.
Those who walk in are supposed to find a wide range of help.
“If you need health screening, if you need help finding a job, if you are a veteran, you can come right here. You will be served,” Younkin said. “This is a place where all Virginians can come.”
Similar services were offered at the Freedom Support Center, which opened in 2012. But that center was focused on helping veterans and their families, so the VCRC will help any Virginian and will have more resources under one roof.
“It’s important so that folks can come in that have issues with housing, finding a job, trying to get the benefits that they deserve,” Howard Myers, a member of Petersburg City Council, said. “So this one stop center would provide that service for them.”
While the center opens with 15 partners on Monday, there is already expansion planned for more offices.
The Doors to the Virginia Community Resource Center will open Monday through Friday from 8 am. to 5 p.m. The address is 22 W Washington Street.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
