Vibrant Virginia
Seed Funded Projects
DELTA Digital Research Lab
DELTA Digital Research Lab developed social media campaigns to help small nonprofits in Southwest Virginia raise their voices and profiles online. Small nonprofit organizations often lack the internal staff expertise and capacity to pursue robust digital programs, limiting their ability to engage the public in their mission, raise funds, expand volunteer hours, and positively impact public policy. Vibrant funding allowed DELTA Digital Research Lab to expand their efforts and partner with many under-resourced organizations. Contact Dr. Katherine Haenschen (kh3@vt.edu) for more information.
The Community Change Collaborative (CCC)
The Community Change Collaborative (CCC) is an interdisciplinary group of graduate students and faculty. The CCC held community workshops on topics such as business incubators, social entrepreneurship, development of innovative lodging options, and improving nonprofit governance and leadership capacity. Since VV funding, the Collaborative continues to work with communities in Montgomery WV, Lee County VA and Patrick County VA. It provides opportunities for its members to engage in applied community-based research, while connecting community partners with the knowledge, technical capacity and support that only a major research university can provide. Contact Dr. Max Stephenson (mstephen@vt.edu) or Andrew Morikawa (andrjm7@vt.edu) for more information.
Connecting Schools and Businesses/Promoting Workforce Development through Teacher Internships
Connecting Schools and Businesses/Promoting Workforce Development through Teacher Internships promoted education and workforce development in Southwest Virginia by connecting teachers with area businesses. They co-created internship opportunities for students while fostering classroom environments that better prepared students to enter the workforce. The project team researched the potential for developing more effective student internships in local businesses, which resulted in the creation of a curriculum and evaluation plan that helps educators measure the effectiveness of internships with local businesses in Southwest Virginia. Contact Lisa McNair (lmcnair@vt.edu) or Dr. Sue Magliaro (sumags@vt.edu) for more information.
“I am so grateful for the funding to devote sustained attention to my legacy business project, and equally important, for the connections to the expertise of the VT Office of Economic Development.”
Dr. Elizabeth Morton, Arlington Legacy Business Initiative
“With this seed funding, we have been able to propel our project forward. We have leveraged this funding with several other smaller grants to make connections with service provider and volunteers groups. The resources for travel, meeting spaces, and research assistance has made a critical difference in our work, as we continue to plan for the second annual consortium meeting next fall and to submit an external grant.”
Dr. Katrina Powell, The Refugee and Migrant Partnerships Project
“The Institute for Policy and Governance and the Community Change Collaborative profited strongly from our engagement in Vibrant Virginia. The initiative opened up fresh venues and avenues for inquiry and assistance, prompted a lively deepening of conversation on the dynamics of community change among participating faculty and graduate students and stimulated a number of scholarly efforts. In short, Vibrant Virginia helped us address all elements of the University’s mission while providing needed community development support to locations desiring it.”
Dr. Max Stephenson, Community Change Collaborative