Virginia

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In Virginia, the Greenforce® Initiative is working with community colleges in the Northern, Shenandoah, and Chesapeake regions, and collaborating with the Virginia Community College System and the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Watch now: How Do I Get a Wind Turbine on Campus in Virginia?, November 21, 2013

Watch now: Wind Energy in Virginia Webinar, November 7, 2013

Watch now: Virginia Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement Webinar, October 16, 2013

Virginia Green Labor Market Report, published October 2012

Watch now: Virginia Green Labor Market Review Webinar, October 11, 2012

COMMUNITY COLLEGE PARTNERS

The following Virginia Greenforce® Initiative partners were awarded innovation grants to advance their efforts in the areas of green workforce development and campus sustainability. Click below to learn more about their projects.

Blue Ridge Community College: Blue Ridge Community College received a Greenforce® Initiative innovation grant award to expand the sustainable garden program, a project that has been ongoing since January 2010. The yield from these gardens has been provided to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to provide high-quality, organic produce to persons in need. The expansion will include a wider variety of produce, will enable the placement of "mini-gardens" around the campus that will allow members of the campus community to learn about and practice high-yield low-impact gardening, and will be used to educate students on sustainable agriculture topics and become a living laboratory. Stay tuned for updates on this project.

Check out Blue Ridge's Workforce Development Website to see what's new with their workforce development and green jobs training programs.

Contact: Patty Lotts, Coordinator of Professional Development and Small Business Outreach, lottsp@nwf.org; David Wiggins, Workforce Services Program Manager, wigginsd@nwf.org

Germanna Community College: Germanna Community College received a Greenforce® Initiative innovation grant award to design a program to train students to be guides for their new green building and provide an opportunity for engineering students, specifically, to learn from the architects and builders as construction is in progress. Germanna opened their new green, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver building in May 2012. The new science & engineering building, located at Germanna's Fredericksburg campus, features low maintenance landscaping, a vegetative roof, a rainwater harvesting system, integrated shading and daylight sensors, a wind turbine, laboratory exhausts using an energy recovery system, low-flow fixtures, and much more. On opening day, several student guides were available to give tours to show the green features of the building. The students will be available to give tours to fellow students, faculty, staff and community members during the fall and spring semesters. The three story, 52,000 square foot building provides laboratories, instructional resources, student services and more to Germanna's campus community and the broader Fredericksburg community.

Check out Germanna Community College's Workforce Development Website to see what's new with their workforce development and green jobs training programs.

Contact: Denise Guest, Dean, Professional & Technical Studies, dguest@germanna.edu

Rappahannock Community College: Rappahannock Community College (RCC) received a Greenforce® Initiative innovation grant award to host a Regional Green Vendor Fair in the spring of 2012. The Green Vendor Fair took place on April 19, 2012, in partnership with the Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce. More than 15 green vendors attended highlighting their environmentally friendly products and services. Employers (vendors) present included Dominion Power, Philips Energy, Green Planters, Gloucester Toyota, Lamb Exterminating, Rapphannock Community College, and more. Awareness of green products, initiatives and technologies is a critical need for local businesses, homeowners and citizens near RCC. The fair provided information about green career pathways in the region and provided access to green technology initiatives to lower-skilled adults in a non-threatening, open environment.

Check out Rappahannock Community College's Website to see what's new with their workforce development and green jobs training programs.

Contact: Jason Perry, Vice President, Workforce and Community Development, jperry@rappahannock.edu

Thomas Nelson Community College: Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) received a Greenforce® Initiative innovation grant to create a small-scale solar demonstration to show affordable and practical ways to collect, store and use solar energy. TNCC installed two solar panels to two motorcycle storage containers (a part of the campus's motorcycle safety courses) that are located adjacent to a campus parking lot. The panels provide energy for lights inside the containers, motorcycle battery chargers, and ventilation for the container. The Computer-Assisted Drafting and Design (CADD) students designed the structure and Engineering Technology students conducted research on peak load, calculating battery storage capacity, orientation and placement, and the installing and wiring to batteries.

Check out Thomas Nelson Community College's Workforce Development Website to see what's new with their workforce development and green jobs training programs. Also take a look at the Sustainability Task Force Website to see their current and future sustainability initiatives.

Contact: Carmen Burrows, Associate Vice President, Workforce Training, burrowsc@tncc.edu

Take a visual tour of our innovation grant projects in action.

PARTNERS IN THE NEWS

Germanna Community College's New LEED Silver Science & Engineering Building, May 24, 2012
Rappahannock Community College Hosts Green Vendor Fair in Gloucester, VA, May 10, 2012
Virginia Community College's are going green, December 16, 2011
National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Staff Tour New Green Building at Germanna Community College, November 21, 2011
Going Green in the Valley, May 5, 2011
Dispatches from VA Greenforce Summit: Former DNC Chair McAuliffe Drives Home 'No One Size Fits All' Message, February 16, 2011
Dispatches from VA Greenforce Summit: Job Figures Show Training Needs, February 16, 2011

EVENT ARCHIVES

Webinar: Greenforce in Virginia featuring green jobs training at three community colleges—November 18, 2010, Campuses highlighted: Dabney S. Lancaster, Germanna and Rappahannock Community Colleges
Virginia Greenforce Summit—February 16, 2011

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Grant programs for land and water conservation & recreational trails.
Virginia Environmental Endowment: Improves the quality of the environment by using its capital to encourage all sectors to work together to prevent pollution, conserve natural resources, and promote environmental literacy.