The West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC) is proud to announce the promotion of Rebekah Morgan to the position of Director of Community Development.
Rebekah joined the WPPDC in early 2024 as the Community Development Specialist. Since then, she has made significant contributions to several regional initiatives, including the Stuart Downtown Revitalization Project, the Patrick County Business Development Center, the Martinsville MiNet Expansion, and the Dan River Basin Association’s marketing and infrastructure planning for the Southern Virginia Blueways System.
A project that was meaningful for Rebekah was her work with the Woolwine Park Association, where she helped identify funding opportunities and applied for grants to improve I.C. DeHart Memorial Park in Patrick County. The Association was awarded a grant from the Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia, which they used to purchase a bike wash station and shower for their mountain bike trails. Rebekah plans to continue collaborating with the Association and pursue additional funding for further park upgrades.
“Rebekah has been a tremendous asset to our team. She has received outstanding accolades for her work from our localities, community partners, and funding organizations for her grant writing skills,” said Kristie Eberly, Executive Director. “Her ambitious drive to explore new opportunities and her collaborative approach with our localities have made a significant impact. We are excited to see her continue to excel in this new role.”
In her new position, Morgan is looking forward to pursuing opportunities that will allow the WPPDC to provide more robust community development capacity to the region’s localities and community partners. She stated that rural communities struggle with being able to bring their needs to fruition because they don’t have the capacity to carry out projects with the limited resources and staff. She would like to explore ways to increase capacity in the region by identifying the critical needs of our partners and creating a pool of resources to lend the helping hand needed.
“We have a lot of great community sparkplugs in our region who work tirelessly to improve the communities they serve, and working for the WPPDC has allowed me to meet them and work alongside them on some amazing projects,” said Morgan. “I never know what idea someone is going to approach me with, and it’s a lot of fun helping brainstorm how to make that idea come to fruition. I want to see our region thrive, and the WPPDC exists to provide the extra hands that our partners need to be successful at what they do.”
Morgan holds a Master of Public Administration from Troy University and a bachelor’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of South Florida. She served in the Marine Corps as a Special Intelligence Communicator and System Administrator. Before her role at the WPPDC, she was the Assistant Park Manager at Fairy Stone State Park.
The West Piedmont Planning District is a regional planning organization serving the counties of Franklin, Henry, Patrick, and Pittsylvania; the cities of Danville and Martinsville; and the Town of Rocky Mount. The WPPDC seeks to carry out its mission by facilitating regional thinking and dialogue among the district’s local government, K-12 and higher educational institutions, economic development organizations, workforce development, and other key stakeholders. Learn more at westpiedmontpdc.org
Rebekah Morgan