Mission:
Background:
The southeastern quadrant of West Virginia, the southern highlands of the state, is a region of incredible scenic beauty. Here mountain peaks soar four and five thousand feet high, gorges plunge over 1,000 feet deep to where thunderous whitewater rivers flow. The clean, green and safe quality of life this region offers is being discovered by the rest of the world. Just in the last few months zoning and building permits have been issued for nearly 6,700 upscale housing units in Greenbrier, Raleigh and Fayette Counties alone. Over a hundred new retail operations are under construction at Princeton Crossing in Mercer County and Cranberry Plaza in Raleigh County. Approximately 1,000 motel rooms have come on line at I-77, Exit 9 and another 1,000 at I-77, Exit 44 in Princeton and Beckley, respectfully. In addition, six new or developing business parks in Fayette, McDowell, Nicholas, Raleigh and Webster Counties totaling over 3,050 acres are available as well as eight new technology/office buildings in Athens, Beckley, Bluefield, Hinton, Lewisburg and Webster Springs totaling over 400,000 square feet of space are complete or under construction. The question is how to keep the momentum going and create an even greater regional competitive advantage.
The Initiative:
The evolution of the Connected Technologies Corridors initiative has taken place over the past couple of years. Congressman Nick J. Rahall working in concert with local communities stresses the importance of "Technology, Transportation and Tourism" as the future of this region. The Congressman, working with 4-C Economic Development Authority and the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Authority, developed the I-64 High Tech Corridor with anchor points of technology buildings at the airports in Lewisburg and Beckley with a spur to Hinton that has been successful.
The CTC initiative simply expands the High Tech Corridor concept to I-77's Appalachian Corridor Q (460) and L (19) as well as major state and federal highways throughout the region, including the King Coal Expressway and the Coalfields Expressway, both of which are now under construction. This expansion evolved from an electronic town hall meeting involving the 11 counties in the region. This video conference showcased the technical ability of the region by alowing over 2,000 people at 11 seperate sites to simultaneously meet electronically. This meeting was assisted by WV Public Broadcasting and Verizon. The consensus at the meeting was that the need to develop and expand broadband access and development of an information technology industry within the region was the area's greatest priority. Coupled with taking a page from both the WV Science and Technology Advisory Council's "Plan for the 21st Century", which stressed the need to develop the next generation internet as well as the "WV—A Vision Shared" plan which also stressed the importance of ID Techonology, public, private partnerships and regional cooperatives, "Think globally and act regionally," the CTC was born.
This is an 11 county regional economic development initiative bringing a concerted focus on technology for this region. The project contains the following components:
- Technology Infrastructure—Improved Access and Speed.
- Entreprenurial Development.
- Marketing and Education.
The region can continue and improve its competitive advantage if the already good fiber backbone is strengthened and marketed. The assets in place need to marry into one effort, and private/public partnerships may need to be developed. While we are all interested in improving broadband accessibility and economic development with many different groups and individuals working to this end, the CTC initiative is the bona fide group charged with this effort. The following economic development agencies comprise the CTC Board of Directors:
- 4-C Economic Development Authority (Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh and Summers Counties)
- Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (Greenbrier, Monroe and Pocahontas Counties)
- McDowell County Economic Development Authority
- Mercer County Economic Development Authority
- Webster County Economic Development Authority
- Wyoming County Economic Development Authority
- Region One Planning & Development Council (Mayors and County Commissions of McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming Counties)
- Region Four Planning & Development Council (Mayors and County Commissions of Fayette, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Pocahontas and Webster Counties)
Partners:
- Congressman Nick J. Rahall
- Verizon
- Frontier Communications
- The Benedum Foundation
- Region 1 Workforce WV (Covers the 11 counties of the CTC Initiative and is comprised of local elected officials (LEO Board) and the private sector.)