Hampton Roads boasts notable Black neighborhoods, historically Black universities, Green Book locations and even the site where the first Africans set foot on U.S. soil in 1619.

But Amelia Ross-Hammond,  who founded the Virginia African American Cultural Center in Virginia Beach, says what the region doesn’t have is a program linking all of those together.

Now, the General Assembly is considering $100,000 to fund a traveler’s guide of all those historic landmarks..

“They are scattered around. This will bring them into a collaborative one stop shop,” she said.

The cultural center is working with tourism bureaus like Visit Norfolk and other groups around the region to assemble and publish the guide.

The idea is to help visitors better plan their trips. It will include QR codes to show videos and audio from notable sites.

Ross-Hammond said it could even be used for school groups and there’s even been interest in expanding the guide beyond the region.

The $100,000 in the General Assembly budget will match what organizations and localities are contributing to the first draft of the effort. 

Ross-Hammond said state funding should allow them to get copies of the travel guide printed and out to the public this summer.

The General Assembly is entering its last weeks of session, when a budget begins taking shape largely behind closed doors.

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