This area’s Watermen Tourism Training Program has been recognized as a winner.

The Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA) cited this program in granting its 2014 Community Economic Development Awards in the over-100,000 population category to the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck region.

A release said the project combined community development, business retention and expansion, and community involvement. 

The program was developed by Rappahannock Community College’s Workforce and Community Development office in collaboration with Chesapeake Environmental Communication and offers guidance for watermen who wish to supplement their incomes by developing tourism-based businesses. In addition to providing an alternate source of income for Virginia’s working watermen, the program spurs cross-industry economic development throughout coastal Virginia, connects the public directly with working watermen in the capacity of educators and Chesapeake Bay stewards, an...