Chapter 4: Community Development
4.1 Tackling Crime
4.2 Community Center
4.1 Tackling Crime
Strategic and Visible Support
Malden's public safety concerns are focused and addressable. Occasional break-ins, trespassing, and drug and alcohol activity, mostly concentrated around a small number of vacant and abandoned properties and transitional areas, are the primary issues. A recent community cleanup at the Malden underpass exit ramp onto Route 60 and the curve toward Rand uncovered hundreds of discarded liquor bottles, a visible indicator of the kind of activity that takes hold in low-traffic, low-visibility areas.
The most important near-term need is establishing a routine law enforcement presence along the corridor, and we are in discussions with local officers. More patrols by the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office will deter opportunistic activity and signal to residents and visitors alike that the corridor is monitored and cared for. Malden Drive’s layout makes it a natural candidate for periodic DUI checkpoints, which serve both as a direct safety measure and a deterrent to the pattern of drinking drivers concentrated in the area. These problems require consistent attention as a deterrent, but staffing is a problem with police departments across the state, including in our area.
Neighborhood watch programs have a strong evidence base for reducing property crime, and one study shows that the neighborhood watch was associated with a reduction in crime of 16-26 percent (Welsh & Farrington, 2008). Malden already has a working model in the Malden Circle neighborhood watch that can be expanded to cover the broader corridor. Together, routine patrols, periodic DUI checkpoints, and an organized resident network can tackle the crime in Malden before it escalates.
At its June 2026 meeting, Friends of Malden Village had an officer from the Kanawha County Police Department explain how the community can get involved in helping them catch criminals. The Friends also met with a representative from Prostera to combat drug addiction in the area. The neighborhood watch group’s first Town Hall occurred the first week of July 2026 and had the same officer at the meeting, building community ties. The officer remarked that Malden had more people show up at their first Town Hall than he’d ever seen at a first meeting before. These meetings will occur monthly and are expected to make a difference in Malden.
4.2 Community Center
A Pivotal Moment Requiring Intentional Action
The anticipated consolidation of Malden Elementary School into the new Country Roads Elementary is a moment that will define the physical and social character of Malden for a generation. Over time, abandoned school buildings deteriorate, making them even harder to resell and increasing the likelihood that they become blighted properties. (Schiffer, 2023). The Friends of Malden Village are actively coordinating with the school principal and the Superintendent of the Board of Education regarding the future of the site, with a formal proposal to be presented by 2028, coinciding with the current decommissioning timeline. Under West Virginia Code §18-5-7b, the Board of Education is authorized to sell or lease unneeded school buildings to nonprofit organizations for a nominal fee for charitable or community use (West Virginia Legislature, n.d.).
The vision for the repurposed facility is a self-sustaining community hub incorporating a dedicated Malden Museum and interpretive center, a community and youth center for programming and events for youth and seniors, lodging options for heritage tourists, commercial rental and coworking spaces, and a pop-up shop featuring locally produced goods including salt from J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works, works by local artisans, and books by regional authors. These uses are designed to generate consistent earned revenue sufficient to cover the facility's ongoing operations while providing essential services to residents of all ages.
The youth programming component deserves particular emphasis in the context of West Virginia's ongoing substance use crisis. The state records among the highest overdose death rates in the nation, with fentanyl involved in 76% of all drug overdose deaths in 2021 (West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, n.d.). Research consistently shows that accessible community-based youth programming is among the most effective tools available for reducing adolescent substance use initiation. The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends community-based interventions involving coalitions or partnerships to prevent substance use among youth (Community Preventive Services Task Force, n.d.).A community center with consistent programming is, in this context, a prevention strategy as much as an amenity.
The school sits within the walkable core of Malden’s historic corridor. Its repurposing as an active, programmed facility ensures that the pedestrian experience along Malden Drive remains continuous and vital rather than interrupted by a vacant institutional building. Its decommissioning, if unmanaged, would represent the single greatest threat to the walkability and visual cohesion of the neighborhood. Its intentional repurposing represents one of the greatest opportunities. A full proposal for this initiative will be developed and presented as a dedicated project in advance of the 2028 decommissioning date.