To grads: Try to stay in Southwest Virginia
To the Editor:
Posted: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:34 am
For decades in many areas of Southwest Virginia, high school and college graduates have left the region due to the lack of job opportunities.
Recently however, some counties in Southwest Virginia have made great strides in economic development. Many counties do have good job opportunities that will provide the high school and/or college class of 2008 graduates the opportunity to stay in Southwest Virginia.
Many high school 2008 graduates will enroll in one of our great community colleges in the region, many will enroll in our local four year colleges/universities and some will enroll out of the region. Regardless of the educational path these graduates pursue, I hope that more will return to their roots by seeking employment and building their careers in Southwest Virginia. Our young people for too many years have moved on and we need them to stay/return here – these young people are the future of Southwest Virginia.
I would like to challenge the leaders of all of our towns, cities, the chambers of commerce and counties of our area to work endlessly to attract new businesses, to promote and help existing businesses and industries to expand. We are all in this together and we must demand more from Richmond and Washington to help us move forward in economic growth.
Other areas that need attention and major improvements are entertainment, shopping opportunities and good restaurants just to mention a few. Most of our young people over the years have left the area due to the lack of job opportunities but they also leave because there is nothing for them to do. Many towns do not have a movie theater or shopping centers and as many say, “We don’t have a decent place to eat.”
These comments do not mean to insinuate that the counties of Southwest Virginia are all lacking or deficient in these areas. Some Southwest Virginia counties have great job opportunities, entertainment, great restaurants, recreation facility’s and shopping centers, etc. However, some towns may have some of these things in place, but many are in dire need of repair, refurbishing or upgrading, etc. Here again our counties, cities and towns should step forward and try to help these small businesses.
If these areas mentioned in this letter were addressed, more of our young people would stay in Southwest Virginia and they would have something to do and yes, even us older people would too!
My concern is for the future of our region. We must keep, attract and maintain large numbers of our young people in order for our towns and counties to grow. Think about it. Some of our public schools will be forced to close due to the lack of student enrollment and without young families; we will not need as many of our teachers. Like I have said many times in speeches, lectures and one-on-one conversations, “Creating job opportunities is the number one problem for all of us – we must face it head on and work together to solve the problem.”
Congratulations Southwest Virginia class of 2008 High School and College Graduates! Graduates — if you possibly can — stay or return to Southwest Virginia. Help make Southwest Virginia an even better place to work and live!
Terry Long
Tazewell
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