Speaking in the coalfield burg of Norton, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled yesterday a “Return to Roots” campaign that aims to reach an estimated 15,000 Southwest Virginians who graduated from high school during the past 20 years but left the region. The program, according to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, will try to reach the alumni through a website, direct mail and the news media to inform them about new employment opportunities that exist today in Southwest Virginia.
“I think it’s a pretty smart strategy,” Kaine told the Daily Telegraph. “The idea of course is we want to recruit good people for these jobs.”
Kaine said the 15,000 plus alumni now scattered out across the nation already know Southwest Virginia is a great place to live and work. The campaign simply aims to reach them, and encourages them to return home.
Kaine said Southwest Virginia is seeing an increase in job vacancies with improving employment rates. For example, Kaine said just last year more than 700 information technology jobs were created in Russell County.
“They (the alumni) are a little bit everywhere,” Kaine said. “It can be hard to find them. But most high schools have reunions. Many of them can be reached through alumni associations and high school associations.”
This initiative is another positive sign that SW Virginia is thinking very differently about economic development. (See “Broadband and Nature Trails.”) The region is investing in higher education through new schools of law and pharmacy in Grundy. It’s investing in nature trails and heritage trails to attract visitors. It’s building a broadband infrastructure. And now its reaching out to alumni.
If there’s one group of people that know, love and have reason to move to SW Virginia, it’s the sons and daughters who left. With their family roots in the region, they have greater reason to settle there than anyone else. I don’t know how well this campaign will work — success will depend in part upon the execution — but it’s clearly a move in the right direction. In the Knowledge Economy, economic development is all about the development, recruitment and retention of human capital.