Return to Roots
Brian September 16th, 2006
Rex Bowman has a good article in today’s RTD on the new “Return to Roots” program which will be officially launched on Monday, by Governor Kaine at his Cabinet meeting in Wise.
The reason for the program:
Economic experts say the population drop in the coalfields represents a “brain drain,” as high school students who go on to college move away for good because there have been few high-paying, high-skill jobs in far Southwest Virginia to lure them back.
Not surprisingly, I agree with the experts. Before making the decision to move back home, to Clintwood, I was often tempted by other areas with their own exits off of I-81.
The good news is, though, that a lack of technology jobs is being addressed:
But officials said the mountainous region now has openings for software developers and engineers, technical supervisors, information-technology experts, lab technicians, project managers, electrical and industrial engineers, nurses, therapists, physicians and pharmacists.
“There are companies here that have openings all the time,” said committee member Susan Copeland, who runs an Abingdon marketing agency. “One of our goals is to educate the people right here in this region about that, to let them know that the area has really started to change.
The new problem is getting people to come back to the Coalfields (as well as the rest of Southwest Virginia) and/or stay. To that end, the “Return to Roots” program was born. The program is:
Leaders in far Appalachian Virginia are beckoning 15,000 high school graduates who have left the area for jobs elsewhere “to come on back.”
As part of an ambitious program dubbed Return to Roots, to be officially launched Monday by the governor, officials are seeking to persuade Southwest Virginia natives who moved out over the past two decades that the region is much better off economically than it was when they left. In short, the message is that jobs are here if you want them.
Kudos to Governor Kaine for recognizing a big problem affecting Southwest Virginia and taking steps to address it.
For me, the decision to come back to Clintwood was a little easier, since I knew I could always hang out a shingle. For folks with degrees and backgrounds in technology fields, their potential employment opportunities are much more limited.
I hope this program will be very successful and we can continue to utilize the technology infrastructure being built in the Coalfields to lure back and keep our young people.
I’m cheering for y’all…One of the things that amazed me about Grundy was the sense of the future. Everything looked up over there.
I second your kudos to Gov. Kaine. I also hope this venture is successful and can be extended on into Southside Virginia.
It’s good to hear, and I have to admit the thought has crossed my mind a few times. But when we visit, my wife and I are really put off by the religious billboards and the new giant illuminated cross on I-81. We’re concerned we’d be heading back into “Battlecry” territory. SWVA needs to address *that* issue as well as the economic one.
[…] Fellow Virginia Blogger and Southwest Virginian Brian Patton notes the improving situation for technology workers in rural Virginia and governor Tim Kaine’s Return to Roots campaign. As I noted in the comments at Brian’s site, we need more than just economic opportunity to feel able to return; we need to know the region is at least accepting of people with different ideas. I’ve been back to Bristol many times, and there are certain elements there who are eager to make it clear that SWVA is God’s Country. The Conservative Christian, Warrior Jesus kind of God’s Country. It’s a situation that’s getting worse instead of getting better. […]
I sincerely hope that this is a serious initiative and not just more election year political pandering. I am a former native of SW VA / SE KY / NE TN( born in Norton, raised and lived in Wise, Whitesburg, and TriCities ) who has just returned after
living in the Huntsville / Decatur AL area for many years. I have degrees and years of experience in computer science and electronics technology but have been unable to secure a position that would utilize those skills. I am beginning to suspect that I am being rejected as being overqualified in a lot of cases. The governor and the backers of this initiative must realize that to get former natives to return that the jobs created must include experienced positions and not just entry level ones. The Northrup and CGI-AMS facilities also shouldn’t be used as a “dumping ground” for the companies or the state of VA to place personnel that are in other locations that have been affected by contract cutbacks or budget cuts ( I have heard rumors that this might happen ). The returntoroots website is being developed by the VEB ( Virginia Economic Bridge ) a nonprofit organization at Radford University which depends a lot on donations of time and funding from the community at large. This website can be a catalyst for information for natives wanting to return home but only if we contribute to make if effective. I urge all of you current and former SW VA natives out there in the blogosphere to work toward this goal. In other words, don’t just sit around and complain about things, be a part of the solution.
I came across this site looking for genealogy for my family in VA. I graduated from Buchanan Co and the closest friends that I hung out with all left. Three of us went to UVA and three others to VT with degrees in EE,ME, and MD. None of us have went back and from what I’ve read is that CGI-AMS hasn’t even hired the first person and I see them folding like Travelocity did in Dickenson once the tax breaks end. Plus, these are programming jobs that can be moved overseas very quickly so I wonder why the big push to promote them. They are just as volatile as manufacturing. Anyway it’s fun to watch the politicians lie about big paying IT jobs that is actually a call center.
My advise…GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
[…] I first heard of the VEB when the Return to Roots program was announced a few months back. At that time, I visited the VEB’s webpage, but it was the type of information that “goes in one ear and out the other.” Now, looking at it again, the VEB sounds like an excellent program and something that can greatly benefit our region. I am interested to hear whether or not they have been, and to what extent, successful in creating the partnerships that is envisioned. […]