Web sites seeks to bring future workers back to area

Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce and Trade was in Danville on Friday to launch a Web site designed to invite young professionals to come back home to Southside Virginia.

“I am very pleased this morning to announce the official launch of the Return to Roots Southern Virginia Web site,” Secretary Patrick Gottschalk said at the meeting at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research. “This Web site is founded on the goals of encouraging people to join the Southern Virginia community through the processes of promoting communities, advertising careers and establishing busi-nesses.”

The Return to Roots initiative, launched in 2006 by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, is a partnership between the five Chambers of Commerce in the region. Groups in Stuart, Franklin County, Martinsville and South Boston participated remotely with a group in Danville that included leaders in business, government and education.

Return to Roots Southern Virginia, which covers the cities of Martinsville and Danville and the counties of Pittsylvania, Halifax, Franklin, Henry and Patrick, follows in the success of Return to Roots Southwest Virginia launched two years ago.

The new Web site, http://www.rtrsova.org, allows potential employees to upload their resume and review avail-able positions that Virginia companies have listed. There are also links to regional colleges and universities; recreational, arts, cultural, sports and festival sites; and high school reunions.

“This is what makes Return to Roots a special program,” Gottschalk said. “While offering careers, Return to Roots also works equally hard to advertise the region, educa-tional institutions and make people aware of the activities available to them while not on the clock.

According to Laurie Moran, president of the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, and Gottschalk, the Southside program began from a meeting last March of a group of local leaders who met and talked about attracting talent to the community.

“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss what is being done, what is be-ing considered and how we may collaborate to strengthen our efforts to recruit the human capital required for companies and our communities to be successful in today’s global economy,” Gottschalk ex-plained.

With initial funding from the Tobacco Commission, the Web site portal was developed through a partnership among Virginia Economic Bridge Inc., The Center for Rural Virginia and the five chambers of commerce.

The program will be funded up to 50 percent in the future from grants, in-kind donations, government funding and “hopefully” economic development money, according to Glen Sink, executive director of The Center for Rural Virginia.

The remaining 50 percent will eventually come from business uses of the Web site and the nominal fees charged for job postings.

Carl Mitchell, CEO of Virginia Economic Bridge, explained that approximately 94 percent of region will occur through social networking media, including Facebook, MySpace and even Tweeting.

“We are also doing direct mail and are working diligently with higher education institutions to supply us with information,” he said. “We have identified 20 different touch points for reaching our targeted audience of 25- to 45-year-old professionals.”

According to several of the speakers at the meeting, even with the current unemployment rate in the region, there are numerous professional jobs available in architecture, health care, information technology, nanotechnology, tourism and recreation, engineering and management.

Besides jobs, however, Sink said that the region offers “a sense of community, heartland values and a lifestyle people want.”

The Return to Roots program was recently announced as one of the Top 50 semi-finalists for Innovations in American Government Awards judged by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, according to Gottschalk.