Go Virginia awards $5.8 in regional grants

Nine regional projects will receive a combined $5.8 million in Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) funding, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday.

The grants, which were approved by the Go Virginia Board and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, will support regional economic development and workforce development initiatives and encourage collaboration among local governments, as well as public-private partnerships.

“GO Virginia supports economic development projects that strengthen and grow our local economies using an approach that is unique to the commonwealth,” Northam said in a statement. “With an emphasis on regional collaboration, this successful program continues to encourage communities to think creatively about how to build talent pipelines in key industries, create good-paying jobs and drive positive, long-term growth.”

These are the grant projects Northam announced Wednesday:

• $500,000 to ChamberRVA for its CampusRVA project to develop a program to help attract young professionals to the Richmond region.
• $1.5 million to Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) to develop a Coastal Virginia Maritime Advancement Map (COVA MAP) for maritime industry workforce recruitment and training initiatives.
• $548,000 to CvilleBioHub to lead expansions of the biotech sector in the Charlottesville region.
• $80,000 to assist Opportunity SWVA and the University of Virginia College at Wise on a collaborative initiative to develop the Launch SWVA Region 1 Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Investment.
• $299,995 to Valley Innovation Council to coordinate and collaborate with stakeholders throughout the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg and New River Valley areas to develop a regional Innovation and Entrepreneurial Investment Plan.
• $266,667 to 757 Accelerate, in partnership with 757 Angels and E&M Consulting, to conduct a gap analysis, develop best practices, and incorporate existing analyses to develop a comprehensive plan for the Hampton Roads/757 entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• $100,000 to the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance to create a redevelopment master plan for the former 350-acre Central Virginia Training Center (CVTC) site in Amherst County.
• $50,000 to Richard Bland College of William & Mary to create a business plan to develop key partnerships and establish an applied associate’s degree in aeronautics with a stackable credential in small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
• $2.4 million to the Loudoun Education Foundation (LEF) to develop a middle school and high school computer science curriculum in Loudoun County and Chesapeake City Public Schools.