Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission (RVARC) based in Roanoke, Virginia has received a 2018 Aliceann Wohlbruck Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the Regional Study on Transportation Project Prioritization for Economic Development and Growth.
The RVARC staffs the Roanoke Valley Transportation Planning Organization whose Policy Board approved the Regional Study on Transportation Project Prioritization for Economic Development and Growth in April 2018. The effort was the first time private and public stakeholders worked together to study how transportation and economic development goals are aligned, understand regional transportation needs as they relate to economic growth, review an economic profile of regional economic trends and conditions, and identify priority transportation needs and projects related to economic development.
“The Aliceann Wohlbruck Innovation Awards program recognizes the important and wide-ranging work of regional development organizations in communities across the country” said 2017-2018 NADO Doug Elliott, executive director of the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, located in Cedar Rapids. “These awards demonstrate the value of regional development organizations and highlight their critical role in promoting economic development for the nation’s rural and small metropolitan communities.”
NADO is a Washington, DC-based membership association of regional development organizations that promotes programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The association’s Innovation Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities.
Award-winning projects were honored during NADO’s 2018 Annual Training Conference, held October 13 – 16 in Charlotte, NC.