Vinton County Regional Development Staff Travels to Washington for 2026 NADO Conference

Five staff members from the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to attend the 2026 National Association of Development Organizations and Downtown Development Association of America Washington policy conference.

Marlana Hopkins, Stephanie Gilbert, Eli Cole, Kerri Richardson, and Candi Cox made the trip on behalf of OVRDC, the regional planning agency that serves Vinton County and surrounding communities in southeastern Ohio. The conference, held March 12, brought together development professionals from across the country to engage with federal policy discussions relevant to regional economic planning and downtown revitalization efforts.

NADO represents regional development organizations at the national level, advocating for programs and funding that flow directly to rural and small metropolitan areas. For a county like Vinton, which consistently ranks among Ohio's most economically distressed, the policy connections forged at events like this carry practical consequences: federal rural development dollars, infrastructure grants, and economic planning resources are all shaped by the advocacy work that NADO conducts in Washington on behalf of member commissions like OVRDC.

The DDAA component of the conference reflects a growing focus on downtown revitalization strategies, a priority that aligns with ongoing efforts across the Appalachian Ohio region to strengthen commercial corridors in smaller communities.

Sending five staff members to a single national conference signals the weight OVRDC placed on this year's gathering. The delegation represented a broad cross-section of the commission's staff, positioning the agency to bring back policy intelligence and federal relationships that can be applied to planning work across the region's member counties.