VCC Summer-Fall 2021

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer /F all 2021 14 In the 33 years since theVirginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) was created by the Virginia legislature, the authority has helped to bring tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in approved funding for hundreds of projects throughout the coalfield region in far Southwest Virginia. TheVirginia state legislature took action in 1988 to createVCEDA as a regional authority to help enhance and diversify the economy of the state’s seven-county, one-city coalfield region which covers 3,219 square miles in Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell andWise counties and the City of Norton. Since that time, VCEDA has approved more than $254 million in funding for 506 projects throughout the region. “Studies of the authority, which primarily is funded by a percentage of coal and gas severance taxes paid by coal and natural gas producers operating in the region, have shown that VCEDA has also significantly reduced the unemployment rate here while at the same time, improved the diversification of the region’s economy,” said VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher. In December 2018, VCEDA released the results of a study by Chmura Economics & Analytics showing the total annual economic impact of VCEDA is estimated to be $7.9 billion in 2018 supporting 43,753 jobs in Virginia. VCEDA markets the region as Southwest Virginia’s e-Region. Strategically located midway between Atlanta-Pittsburgh, Charlotte- Cincinnati and Richmond-Louisville, the e-Region is an emerging East Coast center for key areas for businesses focused on electronic information technology, energy, education, emerging technologies and entrepreneurs. Its location is within a day’s drive of more than half the U.S. population. Despite the challenges to economic development presented during the national COVID-19 pandemic, VCEDA experienced a successful year in 2020, with projects reported by the authority projected to create or retain 1,259 full-time jobs and 227 part-time jobs and to generate $237 million in private investment. The results of the past year were highlighted in the VCEDA 2020 Annual Report which also examined successes in job expansion and retention projects which also impacted the region in a positive manner. One of the authority’s newer and most successful programs is its Seed Capital Matching Fund program which is designed to assist business start-ups which have been in operation for less than a year to grow and create jobs in the region. A recent study by the Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement found that the program has had a high return on investment and has created and retained 300 jobs in the three years the program has existed. The program has been recognized for its importance in diversifying the region and enhancing community assets from stakeholders and business entities. According to the VT analysis of the program, VCEDA’s investment of $1 million has resulted in a $34.2 million impact on the region’s economy in the course of the three years the program has been operational. Since the program started, the study found VCEDA has played a critical role in the development of small businesses and in support of entrepreneurship in the region. In addition to its traditional financing activities in the way of loans and grants to encourage economic enhancement and diversification in the region, a new renewable energy fund was created by VCEDA in 2020 with the allocation of $1 million from Coalfield Employment Coalfield Economic Development in Southwest Virginia By CATHY ST. CLAIR An up to $500,000 grant from the VCEDA Education and Telehealth Access Fund was closed recently with the Appalachian Council for Innovation (ACI) to be used toward the development of space-based broadband service in the VCEDA e-Region. On hand for the presentation were, from left, Senator Jeremy McPike, who patroned legislation in the General Assembly for the project; ACI President Donald Purdie; VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher; Tyler Lester, legislative aide for Sen. Todd Pillion's office; Tom Lester, chief of staff for Sen. Travis Hackworth; and Cody Mumpower, with Ninth District Rep. Morgan Griffith's office. See Coalfield Economic Development in Southwest Virginia, continued on page 16