In 1997, the 10 counties that comprise Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck qualified as a regional partnership for economic development under the Virginia Regional Competitiveness Program. They formed a regional economic development agency, Virginia’s River Country, and were awarded a total of $10.97 million over five years for regional projects.
In 2001, the Regional Competitiveness Program announced that all partnerships must re-qualify for support by updating strategic plans for regional cooperation and economic development. Leaders of Virginia’s River Country quickly agreed that their region was too large to be truly effective and must reorganize.
They agreed that separate economic partnerships would best serve the communities
in the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck and that the two regions would
pursue re-qualification separately. They also agreed that the Middle Peninsula
would retain Virginia’s River Country, a 501-c-6 corporation, as the economic
development agency for its six counties and three towns.
A two-step process was used to create the new regional partnership for the Middle
Peninsula. This was due to timing. Virginia’s River Country cannot reorganize
as a new partnership until the current Virginia’s River Country Board of
Directors’ charter expires on June 30, 2002.
As a first step, the Regional Economic Development Partnership was formed by the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (MPPDC) in January, 2002 to develop and adopt the new strategic plan for economic development. The second step calls for the members of the planning committee to assume responsibility on July 1 as the Board of Directors of Virginia’s River Country to implement the strategic plan.
The Middle Peninsula’s six counties and three towns adopted resolutions in January, February and March to establish the new regional partnership and support the reorganization of Virginia’s River Country as the regional economic development agency.
Partnership members were recruited from key stakeholder groups - county and
town elected officials and administrators, as well as leaders of educational,
civic and other community organizations. They participated in each stage of
the development of the new strategic plan. Their involvement ranged from early
leadership in determining how Middle Peninsula should best manage economic development
to direct participation in public strategy sessions for priority economic sectors.
© 1997 Most recent revision October 2003