A Year in Review: VCN’s Annual Report
Thanks to highly coordinated efforts and despite political headwinds, VCN — in our role as the strategic facilitator of our 150+ Network Partners — was successful in holding onto major environmental and climate policy successes from the last few years while celebrating historic investments in conservation funding through the budget.
Our Annual Report reviews Virginia Conservation Network’s work from Spring 2022 to Winter 2023. While it feels almost impossible to cover everything we worked on last year in only a few pages, we did our best to squeeze in the highlights, including:
- our strategy to advance conservation initiatives year-round,
- our policy gains and challenges through the General Assembly session and beyond,
- our Network Partner engagement events,
- and more.
As we sent this annual report to the printer, we learned of the tragic loss of our Clean Energy & Climate Justice Policy Manager, Shawn Soares, on May 4th, 2023. Shawn was committed to devoting his career to bettering the Commonwealth and was a rising star in the climate movement. We are dedicating this annual report to him and are committed to working in his honor moving forward.
Read more of our recent updates from our blog:
Staff Sightsee Southside Virginia
Every year, Virginia Conservation Network staff visit a new region of Virginia for a staff retreat. This year, VCN staff headed to Southside to visit Danville, South Hill, and La Crosse.
VIDEO: Take a Deep Dive into Our General Assembly Recap
Watch this year's General Assembly Recap and get an Inside Look at the Environmental Policy Outcomes from the 2024 General Assembly session.
Solar For All, and $156M for Virginia
Virginia received $156,120,000 through Solar For All. One hundred percent of the funding awarded today is dedicated toward distributed solar investments to benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Report: Empowering Tomorrow
Clean Energy States Alliance recently released a report outlining how Solar for All state programs, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, will benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Partners Take New Bill Positions During Historic Veto Session
Governor Youngkin has made a historic and unprecedented amount of amendments and vetoes on General Assembly legislation, and legislators are voting today on whether to accept or reject the Governor's amendments and override any vetoes.
Report: State Policy Leadership To Conserve Nature
The Center for American Progress (CAP) and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) released a report reviewing a variety of land conservation policy models that have been adopted at the state level, highlighting recent examples of each.