The Hopewell Downtown Partnership (HDP) is a grassroots, predominantly volunteer-led 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Our mission is to build a healthy, vibrant, and more prosperous central downtown district for the Hopewell community.

Our origin story begins in 2007 when the continuous flight of businesses and the ongoing deterioration of the Downtown began to threaten the integrity of its historical structures and its cultural and economic relevance to the city and surrounding areas. After several years of organizing, we hired an Executive Director in 2011 and became an Accredited program of the National Main Street Center.

Like the National Main Street Center, we believe that everyone deserves access to a vibrant neighborhood – a place that has a thriving local economy, is rich in character, and features inviting public spaces that make residents and visitors feel that they belong.

When we refer to “Downtown Hopewell” and its geographic boundaries we are referring to the “Hopewell Downtown Historic District” as registered here with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. We’ve been working closely with the City of Hopewell for over a decade now: Contract 2021-2022. View our 2021 Annual Report and 2020 Annual Report here.

As a Main Street America™ Accredited program, we connect Downtown Hopewell to a national network of more than 1200 neighborhoods and communities, both rural and urban, who share both a commitment to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. All Main Street America™ Accredited programs meet a set of National Accreditation Standards of Performance.

The National Main Street Center enables communities to revitalize downtown and neighborhood business districts by leveraging local assets – from historic, cultural, and architectural resources to local enterprises and community pride. It is a comprehensive strategy that addresses the variety of issues and problems that challenge traditional commercial districts. Over the past 40 years, the Main Street movement has galvanized thousands of volunteers and changed the way governments, planners, developers, and communities view preservation and think about the revitalization and management of their downtowns.

Since becoming a fully designated Main Street Community in late 2011, the Hopewell Downtown Partnership (HDP) has worked around the clock to start laying the foundation for a successful program and has cleared several important milestones.

With the support of the Hopewell community, HDP is making significant accomplishments for the Hopewell Downtown Historic District:

• Facilitating the rehab of Historic downtown buildings

• Building volunteer support

• Partnering with property and business owners

• Planning exciting community events

• Generating positive press about Hopewell

In addition, the revitalization of Downtown could not happen without the partnership and collaboration with our local government which has been very active and committed to Downtown. Check out a timeline of some of the major milestones.