People and Talent Development
Talent retention. Promote the "SayYestoLYHRegion" initiative to key frontline stakeholders across the region.
Entrepreneurship. Support growth of the C.Entre (Center for Entrepreneurship).
Farming resources. Build alliances with organizations to provide education for new and emerging farmers.
Workforce forecasting. Convene an annual regional skills forecasting panel to provide annual guidance on emerging workforce needs before critical shortages emerge.
Workforce navigation. Strengthen the Virginia Career Works Central Region website to be a virtual workforce navigation hub.
Industry apprenticeships. Expand and establish apprenticeships across priority industries in the region.
Workforce mobility. Develop regional transportation solutions focused on workforce access
Career guidance. Expand the Lynchburg Beacon of Hope capacity to help students access post-secondary education, workforce training, and career opportunities.
Early childhood education. Commission a regional assessment of childhood education needs that provides recommendations on how regional partners can support establishment of new or expanded capacity early childhood education centers and increase the supply of workers in this sector. Expand upon the EO Center* model for early childhood care and education
Metals fabrication skills. Support the Blue Ridge Workforce Development Center (Bedford Foundry).
Mentorship network. Create a regional mentorship network for students interested in various career pathways.
Places
Industrial sites
Regional site development. Establish regional revenue sharing for industrial sites (industrial facilities authority) and initiate a study to identify potential new regional industrial/commerce sites.
Recycle land. Use available brownfield funding to assess and clean up sites to make them ready for reuse. (Alec, how much activity has your assessment funding had? Is there a regional inventory of brownfield sites?
Site improvements. Construct infrastructure and site improvements in and to industrial and commerce centers around the region. Improvements for individual sites will be included in the plan.
Development evaluation. Create a voluntary "balance-growth" project review toolkit for localities to help assess impacts of major development proposals
VirginiaSCAN. Promote expanded use of VirginiaSCAN to identify and promote available sites.
Economic resilience. Prepare a regional infrastructure resilience priority project list to identify and address infrastructure vulnerabilities.
Agriculture
Agricultural land plan. Create a regional agricultural land use plan to explore mechanisms to preserve agricultural land and remove barriers to success for small and family farms throughout the region.
Regional food hub. Initiate a feasibility study for a regional food hub and shared processing capacity
Placemaking and amenities
Strengthen centers: Continue or develop facade improvement programs in historic town centers
Main Street. Implement Main Street approaches in the towns of the region.
Catalysts. Support catalyst renovation projects like the Vista Theater in downtown Altavista.
Greenways and blueways. Initiate an update of the regional greenway and trail plan with recommendations for priority development projects and funding strategies.
Historic rehab. Organize and sponsor developer workshops for use of historic rehabilitation tax credits for major building rehabilitations. Recruit developers who have this specialized experience.
Mobility
Passenger rail. Support establishment of the AMTRAK stop in Bedford.
Key Corridors. Pursue improvements of key transportation corridors and gateways for functional and attractive design.
Startup spaces
Incubator network. Continue to support development of multiple small business incubator sites in the region.
Spark center. Renovate the second floor of the Spark Innovation Center to expand the makerspace
Economy, innovation, entrepreneurship
Agritourism. Inventory agritourism operations and provide business expansion and promotion assistance.
Foodiepreneur. Partner to expand or replicate the Foodiepreneur program that recently launched in the Roanoke region
Key sector advocacy. Establish workforce advisory councils for specific key industries, such as energy, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.
Technical pathways. Expand engineering and advanced manufacturing pathways and build facilities to support them,
Entrepreneurship. Conduct a regional entrepreneurship and small business development infrastructure assessment.
Hospitality sector. Develop a regional hospitality and lodging initiative.
Ag Complex. Support the FFA Agricultural Complex in Appomattox to boost opportunities for agricultural education.
Agricultural incubator. Incorporate an agricultural incubator element in ag hubs to aid in the business side.
Core development activities. Support traditional business recruitment, expansion, and retention activities.
Ag brand. Pursue ideas to market our agricultural products.
Tourism infrastructure. Support projects that build out the tourism infrastructure such as wayfinding, visitor information, sports facilities, water access, agritourism, and cultural/historic resources.
Farm Partnerships. Strengthen the long-term viability of agriculture in the region by connecting experienced farmers, beginning farmers, agricultural landowners, educational institutions, and support organizations through a coordinated partnership program that facilitates knowledge transfer, business succession, access to land, and economic opportunity.
Financial support. Establish a regional low-interest revolving loan pool for business and agricultural development.