Programs
Impact Fellowship
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.
NewForce
NewForce is a tuition-free, remote, team-based intensive tech training program in West Virginia. It was created by employers, community colleges, and nonprofits to ensure West Virginians have the right tech skills for companies who are ready to hire in the Mountain State.
Through the intensive six-month curriculum, NewForce students work together, receive mentorship, and graduate with in-demand software development skills and direct connections to jobs. The program finishes with a Demo Day where students have the opportunity to share their projects with employer partners and others in the statewide network.
West Virginia Beacon Awards
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.
Locally-Driven Broadband Solutions
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.