Vibrant Virginia Community Exploratories: 2025 Call for Seed Funding Requests

The Center for Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) invites Virginia Tech teams to submit project abstracts for the Vibrant Virginia Community Exploratories Seed Funding development program.

Guided by the University’s Council on Vibrant Virginia, the Vibrant Virginia initiative engages Virginia Tech in bridging divides for broader prosperity and more vibrant communities in every part of the state.

Submissions are open to faculty of all types, as well as faculty-mentored graduate students. Up to four grants of $10,000 to $13,000 will be awarded to each team, accompanied by a roughly equivalent level of in-kind support and technical assistance to develop or deepen an exploratory project. 

An Exploratory involves a pilot of a place-based, solutions-focused collaboration.  Vibrant Virginia Exploratory projects share these features:

• Place:
  The project is place-based and focused on a specific Virginia community (town, neighborhood, city, county, or multi-locality area, such as a Planning District Commission region or smaller.
• Problem:
  The project seeks to address a pressing Vibrant-Virginia relevant problem or challenge, such as bridging divides, reducing disparity, or broadening prosperity, in one or more Virginia places.
• Project team:
  The Virginia Tech project team is transdisciplinary and is led by, or substantively includes, Extension or Outreach faculty, and one or more faculty-supervised graduate students.
• Possibility:
  The project is possibility-oriented, forward looking, strengths-focused, and solutions-seeking.
• Partnership:
  The project seeks to build or strengthen sustained partnership with one or more community anchor partners. The project has potential to deepen or sustain university-community engagement beyond a single-project life span.
• Pilot:
  The project is pilot-scaled, small, or exploratory in nature and represents new work or a fresh iteration of existing work at a local scale. An expected outcome involves one or more additional external funding proposals to grow the pilot in partnership with Vibrant Virginia.

Creative and varied submission from faculty, disciplines, and specialty areas across the university are encouraged, and CECE is especially interested in projects that advance engaged scholarship or link research with extension and outreach-focused work.

While not required, project submissions that connect with and enhance ongoing or emergent Vibrant Virginia Exploratories and interest areas are welcomed. The list of current or planned Exploratories are below. Please contact atate@vt.edu for more information, as the examples involve existing community partnerships.

• Advancing Economic Opportunities in the Alleghany Highlands (specific opportunity areas may include agriculture technology, manufacturing, tourism and nature-based economy, life sciences, and more)
• Growing the Outdoor Economy and Community Well-Being in Southwest Virginia (Washington, Smyth, Grayson, and Russell Counties)
• Flourishing Youth in Martinsville-Henry County.
• Enhancing Housing and Economic Security in Roanoke-Alleghany.
• Strengthening Recovery Ecosystems and Reducing Recidivism in Southwest Virginia (region-wide)
• Building Leadership Capacity in Southern Virginia (region-wide)
• Growing Sustainable Economy in Central Virginia (Charles City County and adjacent; specific opportunity areas include food systems, sustainable economy jobs, alternative energy, and more)
• Civic Well-Being Initiative (statewide, but place-based pilot projects are welcomed)

Awards will be made on a rolling basis, with a final deadline of April 15, 2025.

For questions, or more information, interested faculty may contact Scott Tate at atate1@vt.edu.

If funded, CECE will work with project leads and teams in a support and advisory capacity; help sustain place-based partner relationships; and engage with teams in co-developing one or more future funding requests related to this project.  Funds will be distributed in May of 2025 and projects are to be completed by May 1, 2026. 

University sponsors for this fiscal year include Outreach and International Affairs and Virginia Cooperative Extension.