Attachment D – Project Submissions & Inquiries

Economic Opportunity Fund Project Submissions include:

1. Food Hub – this proposal requests funding to set up and operate a local-food warehouse operation for the purpose of making local crops more accessible to institutional buyers and distributors.

2. Virginia Bounty (formerly Locus Foods) – this proposal requests funding to purchase IT software and set up a virtual market place for local food distribution to individuals and households, institutional buyers and distributors. This business model and software package is currently deployed at a number of food system businesses, including:

·         Oklahoma Foods, http://www.oklahomafood.coop/

·         Nebraska Foods, http://www.nebraskafood.org/

·         Kansas River Valley Foods, http://www.kansasrivervalley.com/

·         Idaho’s Bounty, http://www.idahosbounty.org/

3. Work Force Training – Piedmont Workforce Network submitted a proposal for creating a local worker training program, for local companies to cost-share workforce training projects, in effect filling gaps not addressed by the State Department of Business Assistance Jobs Investment Program.

Other Initial Inquiries from January include:

·        Equipment Investment – This inquiry was made by an existing 30-plus years local employer for expanding investment in manufacturing equipment and hiring an additional 5 workers for Dept of Defense contracts.

·        Relocation & Expansion – This business is seeking matching funding to expand locally (moving from Charlottesville into Albemarle) for larger space, new equipment and hiring additional lower and mid-level workers for Department of Defense support contracts.

·        Building Retrofit – Project funding inquiry involves retrofitting a local industrial building to enhance local research relationships through the creation of secure space for top-secret projects.

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