Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor asks Pittsylvania County for support letter and $5,000 match for Go Virginia planning grant

Tim Clark, president of Blair Construction and a member of the Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor executive committee, asked the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21 to provide a letter of support and a $5,000 locality match for a Go Virginia planning grant that would fund part of the group’s Vision 2050 master plan.

Clark told the board the Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor (BRIC) is a 501(c)(3) funded primarily by regional business leaders and private contributions. He described BRIC’s footprint as stretching from Blacksburg through Roanoke and down to Danville and parts of Halifax County and said the initiative aims to knit those communities into a single “mega region” to accelerate economic development.

The request is part of a three‑phase Vision 2050 planning effort Clark said would move from team building to technical strategies and then to an integrated implementation blueprint. Clark said BRIC has secured some private and foundation support and is pursuing a competitive Go Virginia statewide planning grant for $250,000 that requires local matches and local letters of support. “I’m not asking for a big box of money. I’m asking for your support and maybe a little bit of money,” Clark told supervisors.

Clark described regional strengths he said underpin BRIC’s pitch, including Virginia Tech’s research role, growing biomedical work in Roanoke, and existing workforce training programs. He said the region accounts for a disproportionate share of manufacturing growth in Virginia and showed slides with population, employment and GDP figures he said place the corridor among the state’s largest economic regions.

Board members asked procedural and coordination questions. Supervisor Bowman suggested the BRIC group coordinate with the West Piedmont Planning District Commission in Martinsville; Clark said the group is still building its outreach. County Attorney Evans asked how the county should act on the request; the discussion concluded with staff direction to add a letter‑of‑support and the $5,000 match request to the county’s upcoming business meeting/consent agenda so the board may consider formal approval.

Clark asked for modest local match funding and support letters from participating localities; he said BRIC’s primary funding is private, and that localities’ matching commitments are primarily intended to secure the Go Virginia planning grant. Clark identified recent foundation support of $100,000 (Harvest Foundation) and said a $200,000 grant from DRF is “on the table.”

If the board places the item on the business meeting agenda and approves it, staff indicated they would prepare the letter of support and the budget item for the consent agenda.

Why it matters: County participation would be an early vote of confidence in a privately led regional economic branding and planning effort that seeks state planning funds and private investment. The county’s decision would be a small local financial commitment but could affect the region’s ability to secure the Go Virginia planning grant and to present a coordinated Vision 2050 to state and philanthropic funders.