WASHINGTON, D.C. – River Valley Regional Commission (RVRC), based in Columbus and Americus, has received a 2016 Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the Talbot County and cities of Geneva, Junction City, Talbotton and Woodland Comprehensive Plan.
The River Valley Regional Commission engaged students from Central High School in Talbotton, to develop the Talbot County Comprehensive Plan. Students identified areas in town that were important to the residents of the community; places that were in need of redevelopment and places that were in good repair and appropriately developed. RVRC staff took students through a planning process to pinpoint the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they saw in the community and had them design how they wanted the community to look in 20 years.
NADO is a Washington, D.C.-based association that promotes programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The association’s Innovation Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities.
Award-winning projects were honored during NADO’s 2016 Annual Training Conference, held Oct. 15-18 in San Antonio, Texas.  The 2016 class of award recipients consists of 96 projects spanning 28 states.  Visit  https://www.nado.org/innovation-awards/.
“Since 1986 through its Innovation Awards program, NADO has recognized the transformative work regional development organizations perform every day. Award-winning projects showcase best practices across the country in regional development that support prosperous communities, stronger local economies, and improved quality of life for residents,” said 2015-2016 NADO Board President Jeffrey Kiely, executive director of the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments, located in Gallup, New Mexico.
For more information about this award-winning project, contact Allison Slocum at (706) 256-2910 or aslocum@rivervalleyrc.org.
Since 1967 the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has provided advocacy, education, networking, and research for the national network of 540 regional development organizations. NADO members provide professional, programmatic, and technical assistan