On behalf of Virginia’s Region 2000 Partnership, Bryan David (left) and Traci Blido (right) accept a 2011 Community Economic Development Award from Mike Lehmkuhler of the Virginia Economic Development Association at a state conference in Charlottesville on Friday, April 8.
Virginia’s Region 2000 Partnership recognized with Community Economic Development Award
April 11, 2011
Virginia’s Region 2000 Partnership accepted a
2011 Community Economic Development Award on Friday, April 8 from the Virginia
Economic Development Association (VEDA) in recognition for its innovative
approach to regional economic development.
Virginia’s Region 2000 Partnership is a unique collaboration of organizations
in the Lynchburg region that build economic growth for businesses, residents,
higher education institutions and localities. It was one of the first
organizations in the state to take a comprehensive approach to regional
economic development and more recently, a concentrated focus on
technology-based economic development.
The Community Economic Development Award was presented at VEDA’s Spring
Conference in Charlottesville. The winning nominations will be sent to
Virginia’s Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) to compete with other
southern states’ winners later in the year.
The VEDA awards are designed to recognize outstanding communities in Virginia
for efforts in advancing economic viability through economic and community
development programs. For this award, a panel of judges considered Virginia’s
Region 2000 Partnership’s accomplishments during recent years and measured the
organization’s success in areas such as innovativeness; transferability;
community commitment; measured objectives and secondary benefits.
“I believe our region has a cooperative spirit and a shared sense of purpose
among the region’s business, local government and higher education leadership
that you just don’t find anywhere else,” said Bryan David, Executive Director
of the Region 2000 Economic Development Council, who accepted the award on
behalf of the Partnership. “To be recognized by professional economic
developers from throughout the Commonwealth is a great honor.”
Among the criteria for the award, organizations were to show a successful track
record in gaining community commitment for its efforts. Virginia’s Region 2000
Partnership has gained strong community commitment on solving issues that
impact the “greater good” in the region. Among these are a regional solid waste
authority that was formed in 2009, a regional, industry-led research center
(The Center for Advanced Engineering & Research), currently under
construction, and an overarching ability to bring localities together to
overcome economic and quality of life challenges.