Go Virginia board elects new officers, approves mixed slate of nine projects and declines a childcare planning grant

Emily O'Quinn was elected chair of the Go Virginia State Board on a voice vote at the board's meeting and the board also elected Jim Chang as vice chair for program performance and evaluation and John King as vice chair of regional councils. The board took up nine Go Virginia grant applications and voted to approve the staff recommendations as presented: five projects were approved, three were deferred for further work and one — a United Way childcare planning proposal — was denied.

The board's decisions steer roughly $5 million in Go Virginia requests and associated local and private matches toward workforce training, startup ecosystem building, manufacturing modernization and clean-energy training programs across multiple regions of the Commonwealth. Maggie Beal, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), presided over the officer elections. "I'm Maggie Beal. I'm the new director for the Department of Housing and Community Development," she said while opening the slate for votes.

The meeting opened the public-comment period with Allison Varner Denbigh reading a letter from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce urging the board to "formally recognize early education and childcare as a critical industry that directly advances Virginia's stated goals of improving workforce readiness, recruitment, and retention," and asking for a coordinated, dedicated investment approach. The written correspondence — which the board placed in the meeting record — argued that inadequate child care access constrains employers across several traded sectors in the region.

Sarah [surname not provided], deputy director for DHCD staff presenting the funding packages, summarized the review process and evaluation criteria used by staff and work groups. "We're going to be presenting today nine applications, which are per capita funded," she said, outlining the four evaluation factors used: economic impact, regional collaboration, project readiness and sustainability. Sarah noted that state law establishes a 2-to-1 state match for Go Virginia awards and that the board maintains a local-match policy and a waiver process for financially distressed localities.

On the nine projects the board considered, staff recommendations and the board action (vote to approve staff recommendations as a block) were as follows.

Votes at a glance — board action approved staff recommendations as presented:

- HAMMER (Hampton Roads Advanced Manufacturing Modernization with Emerging Robotics), applicant: GenEdge Alliance; region: Region 5 (Hampton Roads). Go Virginia request: $669,000. Staff recommendation: approve, with accompanying local-match waiver recommended. Outcomes tracked in the proposal included 30 businesses served, 20 businesses expanded, 90 individuals trained and 60 job placements; board approved as recommended.

- Project RISE (Region 2), applicant: Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center; region: Region 2 (Roanoke/New River Valley). Go Virginia request: $648,000. Staff recommendation: defer (work group requested clarifications on integration with other regional services and commercialization supports); board approved staff recommendation to defer.

- Startup Virginia expansion, applicant: Startup Virginia; region: Region 4 (Richmond area/Henrico). Go Virginia request: $1,470,000. Staff recommendation: approve. The proposal centers on new incubator space in Willow Lawn, stage-specific incubation programming and capital access programming (not direct capital to firms). Board approved as recommended.

- "Say Yes to LYH" (Lynchburg talent portal), applicant: Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance; region: Region 3 (Lynchburg area). Go Virginia request: modest implementation amount (noted in packet). Staff recommendation: approve. The portal is intended to support talent attraction, educator-facing content and employer-facing recruitment materials; board approved as recommended.

- United Way of Central Virginia — childcare and workforce development (Region 2). Go Virginia request: $101,000 (planning/feasibility/pilot). Staff recommendation: deny (not aligned with targeted traded-sector industries under current Go Virginia policy). The board approved the staff recommendation to deny; board members directed that the childcare issue be referred to the governance and policy committee for broader discussion and potential next steps.

- ARES (Energy Resilience and Sustainability Program), applicant: Tidewater Community College; region: Region 5. Go Virginia request: approximately $1,280,000 (project budget $2.3 million with $621,000 match). Staff recommendation: defer (work group cited uncertainties about facility lease/identification and long-term sustainability). Board approved staff recommendation to defer.

- FAA Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) College Initiative, applicant: Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission / Community College of the Eastern Shore implementing. Go Virginia request: $721,000. Staff recommendation: defer (work group requested clearer evidence that the donated UAS airframes would be integrated into student training and curriculum alignment). Board approved staff recommendation to defer.

- Cybersecurity dual-enrollment program, applicant: Rockbridge County Public Schools, in partnership with Mountain Gateway Community College. Go Virginia request: modest (equipment, testing center costs). Staff recommendation: approve. The project funds dual-enrollment coursework and industry-recognized CompTIA certifications and establishes a nearby Pearson VUE testing center; board approved as recommended.

- Manufacturing workforce development pilot, applicant: Rockbridge County Public Schools (joint with city of Lexington). Go Virginia request: $131,000. Staff recommendation: approve. The proposal expands dual-enrollment manufacturing certifications, adds equipment and related infrastructure; board approved as recommended.

Board members discussed several cross-cutting topics while reviewing the stack of applications. Key points of discussion included:

- Scope and statute: staff and the governance committee emphasized that Go Virginia funding is focused on traded-sector clusters (advanced manufacturing, aerospace/autonomous systems, clean energy, information/emerging technology, logistics) and that projects outside those priorities risk being denied — a rationale that informed the recommendation to deny the United Way childcare planning request.

- Local-match policy and waivers: Sarah outlined the board's local-match expectations, the 2-to-1 state match established in law, and an existing local-match waiver process intended to prevent match requirements from excluding fiscally distressed localities.

- Project readiness and sustainability: work groups recommended deferrals for projects where facility leasing, equipment use in training, or long-term sustainability were insufficiently specified (Project RISE, ARES, UAS). Staff and board members requested additional detail on facility identification, revenue models and explicit commitments from local partners for those deferred items.

- Data and benchmarking: board members asked staff to compile comparative cost-per-training and cost-per-placement data across past Go Virginia workforce projects to provide guardrails for future project assessments.

After discussion, a motion to approve the nine items "as recommended" by staff was moved and seconded; the board voted by voice to approve the block. The board also approved a consent agenda earlier in the meeting that included minutes from the June meeting, an FY25 Region 4 capacity-building budget approval, the 2026 state-board meeting calendar, regional council certifications and amendments to Board policy numbers 3 and 9.

Board leadership noted next steps. The governance and policy committee will take up the question of whether to further address childcare investment as a Go Virginia funding category or to identify referral pathways and other state resources. Emily O'Quinn, newly elected chair, thanked members for their support and said the new leadership team would seek member feedback on priorities and implementation. "We are gonna do our very best for you and look forward to working with each of you to continue to advance the initiatives that we've talked about earlier today," O'Quinn said following her election.

The board will revisit deferred projects when regions resubmit updated materials, and staff indicated DHCD can administratively approve projects of $100,000 or less between board cycles under existing delegation. The record and correspondence submitted at the meeting will be included in the board minutes and are available through DHCD staff.