Overview:

Page County has a significant population of incarcerated residents in recovery with few employment opportunities available. Located in a largely agricultural area in northeast Virginia, the Page County Economic Development Community Action Team is interested in starting an agricultural-based social enterprise that would work with residents to acquire skills and jobs. They would like to understand the practicality of this goal before applying for grants to start the social enterprise. The Page Count Cooperative Extension agent and Virginia Tech researchers are creating data insights to identify the areas to assist Page County’s formerly incarcerated residents, including alleviating food insecurity, homelessness, low job skills, and substance abuse recovery.

Teaser Video:

Fellows:

Josh Beverly

Josh Beverly

Virginia Tech, Agricultural and Applied Economics
 
 
 
 

Interns:

Talib Grant

Talib Grant

Virginia Tech, Data Analytics
 
 
 
 

Laura Pranteddu

Laura Pranteddu

Virginia Tech and University of Trento, Data Science
 
 
 
 

Afrina Tabassum

Afrina Tabassum

Virginia Tech, Computer Science
 
 
 
 

Mentors:

Susan Chen

Associate Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Ford Ramsey

Assistant Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Conaway Haskins

Extension Specialist, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Stakeholder:

Virginia Cooperative Extension