2016 Trailblazer Awards |
Education, Income and Health Awards
Trailblazer Awards are given in three categories: Education, Income, and Health to organizations that, over the last year or number of years, have successfully created and/or supported community partnerships that improve Southwest Virginia. In other words, instead of just talking about improving the community, the partners are actually improving the community.
To receive an award, the partnerships should be:
- composed of organizations from more than one sector (nonprofit, business, faith-based, government, etc.),
- collaborative in nature, and go beyond cooperation,
- relationships that push partners beyond their core objectives, standard customer service base or standard practice, and
- focused on needs of Southwest Virginia.
Last year's Trailblazer Award winners were:
EDUCATION:
Dickenson County Schools – The Dickenson County Board of Supervisors, United States Department of Agriculture, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Dickenson County Industrial Authority, U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Dickenson County School System built a state-of-the-art campus for a new middle and high school. The project was a total investment of $24 million and has greatly enhanced the way children and youth in Dickenson County learn.
INCOME:
The Southwest Virginia Advance Manufacturing Center of Excellence – Sixty regional partners throughout Southwest Virginia have created an advanced center for manufacturing training and credentialing. The partnerships build the skills and abilities of Southwest Virginia’s workforce.
Mr. Jack Kennedy – Mr. Kennedy has headed up several joint collaborations, including NASA DEVELOP - a partnership between Wise County Schools, NASA, and Mountain Empire Community College aimed at helping hundreds of local students intern with NASA while gaining knowledge in science and technology and Let’s Fly Wisely – a multi-sector collaborative involving multiple businesses, community organizations, educational institutions and governmental officials which allowed Wise County, Virginia to be the first location in the United States to receive a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved commercial drone delivery.
HEALTH:
Mountain Youth Drama –Through a collaboration between Russell County Schools and Cumberland Mountain Community Services, local youth participate arts education including drama, dance and song. These youth agree to illustrate positive peer pressure, serving as role models to peers by remaining drug free.
Pulaski County Drug Court – The entire community has gathered to create new treatment and recovery options among substance abusers so they, too, can be productive and employed citizens of their communities.