Make it understandable.
Plain-language education for students, leaders, professionals, and communities without hype or gatekeeping.
About WVBF
Built in West Virginia. Connected to what comes next.
WVBF is a nonprofit education, workforce development, policy, and ecosystem-building organization working to make emerging technology understandable, useful, and accessible.
01 / OUR MISSION
Participation, not spectatorship.
Technology matters when people can understand it, shape it, and benefit from it.
The West Virginia Blockchain Foundation advances emerging-technology education, workforce readiness, and informed public understanding across Appalachia. Our work sits where blockchain, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and policy meet.
West Virginia helped power the country through coal, steel, rail, and energy. The next transformation will be built through compute, code, secure digital systems, and the people prepared to work with them. WVBF exists to make sure our region is represented in that transition.
Open the room.
Connect local talent to universities, founders, industry experts, conferences, and real emerging-technology networks.
Turn learning into action.
Create workshops, simulations, hackathons, curriculum, and sponsored experiences that move people forward.
How we work
Locally grounded. Nationally connected.
WVBF builds the bridge between communities that need access and institutions that can help create it.
Listen
Start with the audience, local context, and the practical outcome the program should create.
Design
Build curriculum, exercises, speakers, and experiences around the people in the room.
Deliver
Facilitate clear, credible programming across campuses, public forums, and professional settings.
Connect
Help participants find next steps through mentors, projects, conferences, careers, and partnerships.
“Appalachia should not just be talked about in the digital age. We should be represented, trained, and ready to compete.”West Virginia Blockchain Foundation
FOUNDER + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Shekinah Apedo, Esq.
Attorney · Emerging-Technology Educator · Ecosystem Builder
Shekinah Apedo is the Founder and Executive Director of the West Virginia Blockchain Foundation, where she works at the intersection of emerging technology, education, public policy, and workforce development.
Her work translates complex technologies into practical programs and conversations for students, educators, communities, industry, and public leaders. Through WVBF, she has developed university workshops, blockchain and cybersecurity simulations, student-builder initiatives, executive and policy briefings, and partnerships connecting students directly with the technology industry.
Her background spans law, compliance, policy, education, and ecosystem development, giving her a multidisciplinary approach to blockchain, AI, cybersecurity, and other emerging technologies.
Beginning Fall 2026, Shekinah will serve as an Adjunct Professor in Marshall University's Lewis College of Business, teaching the seven-week Introduction to Blockchain course through the One Credit Wonders program.
WVBF was founded in 2025 and operates as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Mission-aligned earned revenue from workshops, curriculum, speaking, executive education, simulations, and program delivery helps strengthen the organization and expand access for students and communities.
02 / OUR MODEL
Mission first. Built to last.
Start a conversation
Let’s build the next pathway.
Bring us the audience, the problem, or the opportunity. We will help shape the right program.