$150K In Grant Funding To Help NOVA Labs Expand Mission At New Fairfax City Location

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — NOVA Labs recently received a $52,076.23 grant from the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (CFNV). The money will help fund the nonprofit's new innovation lab on Jermantown Road in Fairfax City, which is scheduled to open in early 2022.

“This grant to NOVA Labs supports innovation and entrepreneurship in the maker community throughout the region, and we are particularly pleased to be supporting the expansion of that mission with its new location opening in Fairfax City,” said Eileen Ellsworth, CFNV president and CEO, in a release.

At its current location in Reston, NOVA Labs operates a multifunctional space that provides training, tools and advanced machinery to help members of the community design and fabricate prototypes, products and other materials.

The goal of NOVA Labs is to create a space where hobbyists, engineers, artisans and entrepreneurs can work together and create collaboratively. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams of volunteers manufactured masks that were distributed to area hospitals.

NOVA Labs recently started a capital campaign to help fund the move to its new location across the street from Katherine Johnson Middle School.

"The move and expansion to Fairfax City are made possible in part by the $52,000 awarded to us through the Community Foundation Innovation Fund grant," said Derrick Washington, executive director of NOVA Labs, in a release. "Over the past decade, we’ve been fortunate enough to leverage our facilities and community of makers to support creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation, as well as contribute to a number of projects benefitting both our local and global communities. We are incredibly appreciative to the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia for your consistent support."

Washington called the transition to the new Fairfax City space a critical moment in the organization's history.

"My hope is to expand our reach into untapped communities that could greatly benefit from our capabilities and culture to grow to the next level," he said.

Earlier in the week, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that NOVA Labs was one of the 13 organizations from across the state to receive a Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant. The $100,000 grant will go to help expand the Innovation Center, add new tools and support the lab's ongoing programs.

"The project’s long-term goal is to double the number of entrepreneur members and double the Innovation Center’s prototyping capacity in order to enhance Region 7’s start-up ecosystem, small business growth and technical workforce," said the governor's office release.