Programs

The Impact Fellowship is an initiative to attract, retain, and advance the best and brightest young talent to live, work, and contribute to a better future for West Virginia. Modeled after the successful Challenge Detroit program, the yearlong Impact WV fellowship is designed to not only attract top-notch employees to West Virginia but also to retain them.

This program invites tomorrow’s leaders to work, live and give in West Virginia by offering yearlong, paid fellowships at some of the Mountain State’s most innovative companies. During the course of a year, Impact Fellows will work 32 hours a week at one of our participating companies and spend each Friday contributing their brain power and time to a local nonprofit.

Our local Generations play an important role in our mission as they serve as hubs of connection, engagement, and development led by and for young people. 

Across the state, young leaders self-organize in local Generations that make up an activated network of young people who are eager to step up in their communities. While Generation West Virginia provides support to all of our local Generations, they are volunteer-led, planning programs, events, and opportunities for their local networks. Each local Generation is led by a volunteer board or steering committee, providing leadership opportunities for those who join.

Our Generations are developed out of the local leadership’s answer to one question: What would you do to make your community a place where more young people can choose to stay? Each Generation strives to build on the assets of their community and expand the opportunities for young people to get connected and involved. 

The West Virginia Beacon Awards recognize young leaders who are leaning in to existing challenges, digging into possible solutions and most importantly, turning their ideas into action.

This program is presented in partnership by two organizations dedicated to supporting young leaders in the Mountain State. The One Foundation nurtures grassroots transformation in communities across the coalfields of Central Appalachia and beyond to spur a more diverse, more sustainable, and more inclusive economy. Generation West Virginia is the statewide organization dedicated to attracting, retaining, and advancing young talent.

The West Virginia Beacon Awards are selected on a nomination-basis. Nominations for those leaders who are performing outstanding work in their community can be submitted online. We are not currently accepting nominations at this time.  

Generation West Virginia (GWV), in partnership with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation (Benedum), has launched the Locally-Driven Broadband Solutions initiative to overcome barriers to broadband access and start enacting tangible change in local communities.

We believe that local contexts demand local solutions, and that public-private partnerships between municipal government, regional planning and development councils, and internet service providers are the key to successful broadband projects.