James Madison University is more than a Harrisonburg neighbor and tenant. It’s also a trusted partner, providing resources and expertise to help grow local businesses and nonprofit organizations, and ensuring a vibrant community in which to live and work.
With that in mind, JMU President Dr. James C. Schmidt visited the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg to moderate an April 10 panel discussion, “The Promise of Partnerships,” during a week of events celebrating his inauguration.
The Madison Promise, a pillar of JMU’s new 2030 strategic plan, seeks to build on the partnerships, creativity and entrepreneurial energy that define the region. “We want to be known as the preferred partner, the one that you automatically turn to no matter what your business or organization’s challenges are,” Schmidt said.
The panel featured Leanne Shepherd, director of Second Home Learning Center, a downtown day-care facility that serves children in grades K-5; Andrea Dono, executive director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance; and Peter Denbigh (’02, ’11M), a serial entrepreneur and founder of Harrisonburg Innovation Hub, a coworking space designed to help small-business and community leaders succeed in their ventures.
Shepherd said Second Home relies on about 50 JMU student volunteers each semester to deliver on its mission to provide a safe place for children to go before and after school. “We couldn’t possibly do that with just our staff,” she said.
The students learn valuable workforce skills, Shepherd said. Year after year, many continue to volunteer at the facility, which in essence becomes their “second home.” Some have even become staff members, she said.
The partnership is also important for Second Home’s families, many of whom are low income, so they can work and earn a living wage while also imagining a brighter future for their children, Shepherd said. “Seeing JMU students come in and share time with their kids gives them that opportunity to connect and [begin to see] that dream that many of them want for their kids too.”
Dono discussed JMU’s longstanding role in the revitalization of downtown Harrisonburg, which dates to the early 2000s. “From the very beginning, [the university was] part of the reason why HDR was founded,” she said. Faculty members and administrators facilitated community discussions and led focus groups to make the downtown more accessible for people with disabilities, and the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center, a JMU affiliate, continues to help local entrepreneurs with their ventures.
Almost 25 years later, “we have a downtown that has the lowest vacancy rate we’ve had since our decline,” she said.
Dono also highlighted a recent project with Architectural Design students to design a green space outside the HIH on North Liberty Street.
Denbigh said the education he received and the relationships he built at Madison have been instrumental in his career as an entrepreneur, which included developing a bestselling party game, Watch Ya’ Mouth. While earning his Master of Business Administration, he visited China, an experience he said became critically important after the game took off and he returned there to open six factories in seven days to meet demand.
More recently, Denbigh approached JMU about partnering with HIH, part of The Innovation Hubs’ family of coworking locations in the Shenandoah Valley. “For a university of the size and stature and complexity of James Madison University to say, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We don’t really know what that can look like, but we’ll figure it out’ — it just really stuck with me,” he said. JMU was one of the building’s first tenants.
Schmidt and the panelists expressed their commitment to continuing and expanding these partnerships, emphasizing the interdependence and mutual benefits they bring to the community.
Earlier in the day, representatives from JMU, the City of Harrisonburg and Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance led downtown walking tours featuring local businesses and community organizations. Each stop included a brief conversation with a partner who shared the impact of their collaboration with JMU.
