The Executive Committee of the Mary Ball Washington Regional Council – GO Virginia Region 6 met on November 9, 2021 from 10:00AM – 12:00PM. Below is a summary of key agenda items and actions taken.

  • Application Discussion & Determinations: RIOT Pre-Accelerator Program
    • The GO Virginia Region 6 Regional Council was unable to meet in October. The Executive Committee reviewed and approved the RIOT Pre-Accelerator Program to be sent to the Department of Housing and Community Development for approval on the condition that when the Region 6 Regional Council meets again the project be reviewed and approved by the Region 6 Regional Council.
  • Growth and Diversification Plan
    • The Executive Committee reviewed and approved a draft of Region 6’s 2022-2023 Growth and Diversification Plan.
  • CY 22 Project Application Time
    • The Executive Committee reviewed Region 6’s CY 22 Project Application Timeline. A timeline of when applications are due can be found on Region 6’s website under the apply tab.
  • Project Status Updates
    • The Executive Committee reviewed currently funded projects. Highlights are below:
      • UMW Cybersecurity Certification program, which established a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification program at UMW is continuing to train students. They launched another “Bootcamp” this week. To date they have trained 30 students.
      • Rapp Region Entrepreneurship is a partnership between Stafford EDA, RIOT, and CIT to grow mid-stage entrepreneurs in the region. The first cohort is set to launch in Q1 of 2022.
      • Germanna Tech Talent Pipeline has now established the first dual enrollment course in cybersecurity in the state of Virginia in Spotsylvania. Currently GCC is providing a teacher for the course but they are working on getting High School teachers trained to offer the course. In Stafford, 7 teachers have been certified to teacher cybersecurity. In the city, Germanna is offering two non-credit pathway classes for 24 students. If they pass this non-credit class, they can go to any community college in VA and receive 3 credits for prior learning.
      • Virginia Sea Grant and RISE have announced their Rural Coastal Community Resilience Challenge. The Rural Coastal Community Resilience Challenge represents a rare opportunity for game-changing entrepreneurs: The chance to pilot innovative solutions in the living laboratory of coastal Virginia and make a positive impact quickly. Learn more here: https://riseresilience.org/rural-resilience-challenge/

Published by Jennifer Morgan