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Healthy New River Valley

Lead Organization: New River Valley Planning District Commission

Key Partners: New River Valley Planning District Commission, Virginia Tech Institute of Policy and Governance, Virginia Health Department – New River District, Partners for Access to Healthcare, Virginia Rural Health Association, Virginia Tech’s Talent Search/Upward Bound Program, Pulaski County Prevention Council and local school districts.

Project Location: The New River Valley, VA, in the mid-Appalachian Region.

Contact: Kevin Byrd, Executive Director, New River Valley Planning District Commission, (540) 639-9313 or kbyrd@nrvpdc.org. 

Project Description: 

The New River Valley Planning District Commission (NRVPDC), along with collaborating partners Virginia Tech’s Institute for Policy and Governance (VTIPG) and the Virginia Health Department – New River Valley District (VDH-NRVD), will use its Roadmaps to Health Community Grant of nearly $172,000 to ensure that good health for New River Valley residents is part of their future. This effort complements the ongoing federally-funded New River Valley Livability Initiative  to engage residents of the region in planning for a sustainable future.

The Healthy New River Valley project uses the two-pronged approach of data gathering and youth engagement to improve health behaviors that lead to many of the poor health outcomes plaguing the community, including teen pregnancy, substance abuse and higher-than-average premature death rates. Project staff will engage local youth in conversations about their particular health concerns and behaviors that can keep them healthy, and then empower these young people to take that message—and their own stories—to their peers and to the larger community. A group of “youth ambassadors” will be trained in digital media and storytelling and mentored through the process of developing an ad campaign for healthy living based on their own experiences and those of the people in their local community.

The NRVPDC and the VTIPG have committed 55% of the required 1:1 match in cash to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant and the VDH-NRVD and many other supporting partners are providing additional in-kind match for this important effort.