Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home Opinion Editor A tale of two economies

A tale of two economies

Published October 30, 2019 by Richard Foster

Photo courtesy Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

On a September trolley tour of Danville’s revitalizing downtown, the city’s economic development director, Telly Tucker, recounted to me a memory of his first day on the job, back in 2014. Stopping into a local bakery to grab a cup of coffee and a pastry, he introduced himself to the young lady behind the counter, prompting her to respond, “Why’d you move to Danville?”

Tucker, needless to say, was taken aback.

“With all of the assets I see and our potential for future growth, if we as residents and stakeholders don’t speak well of ourselves, how can we expect others to?” Tucker asks. “We all know we have challenges, but overwhelmingly, the good outweighs the bad, and the good doesn’t get enough attention.”

This anecdote came to mind a week later when I was in Harrisonburg covering the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s inaugural Investing in Rural America conference, held Oct. 2 at the Hotel Madison & Shenandoah Convention Center.

Speaking on the importance of rural communities and small towns changing their narratives, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said that’s necessary not only to promote themselves to outsiders, but to retain the people who already live there.

“Changing the prospects of a town, it seems to me, starts with aligning the mindsets of the people in that town,” Barkin said. “And a great metric is whether the kids who grow up and go to school there choose to come back.”

In this month’s cover story, we’re examining how the American workforce is about to undergo a seismic shift in the next decade, as millennials and Generation Z become the dominant working population. Attracting and retaining these younger workers is top of mind in economic development circles, but nowhere are they more desperately needed than in small town America.

Rural population growth has been stagnant or shrinking for decades while urban growth has been skyrocketing. However, rural people account for about 60 million people in the United States, or one in five Americans, a not-at-all insignificant percentage.

And rural workforces are dwindling and aging, as localities grapple with how to grow — and harvest — a crop of young workers with 21st-century skill sets.

In his first 18 months as Richmond Fed president, Barkin has learned that there are two economies in the Fed’s Fifth District, which includes Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas — “one in bigger cities and one in smaller towns.”

While larger metro regions are thriving in Virginia’s Golden Crescent, which stretches from Northern Virginia through Richmond to Hampton Roads, the commonwealth’s rural areas are struggling — with everything from graduation rates to access to medical care and broadband.

In some areas of Southside and Southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, as many as 60% of households have no internet subscription. But increasing its usage and availability is critically important: “Like rural electrification 80 years ago,” Barkin said, “the benefits — in terms of opportunity identification, skill-building, telemedicine and the like — are too big to pass up.”

Also contributing to the rural economic gap and social isolation are the closures of local banks, hospitals and colleges, Barkin said, not to mention the ravaging impact on small-town workforces of opioid addiction.
Faced with all that, “I’ve encountered arguments that the challenges of distressed rural communities are too difficult to solve,” Barkin said. “They’re not.”

Fixing these challenges, he said, will require focus, persistence, regional cooperation and a concerted effort from residents and local leaders to improve educational offerings and seek out and take advantage of funding opportunities.

I saw those traits in abundance among the four dozen or so community and business leaders who participated in Virginia Business’  Sept. 24 Meet the Editors luncheon at Danville’s high-tech Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, where they’re focused on solutions such as innovative workforce development programs that begin as early as middle school.

Millennials can find a lot to like in Danville, with its attractive turn-of-the-century buildings, affordable cost of living, breweries, Minor League Baseball team, high-speed internet, stunning riverfront YMCA and        11.5-mile Riverwalk Trail — not to mention outdoor activities like kayaking, paddleboarding and ziplines.

But for Danville — and other small towns like it — a major challenge of the next decade will be convincing these in-demand young adults that they have a future there.

For Tucker, that effort started with the cashier at the bakery. Now, whenever he sees her, it’s a running joke for him to ask her to say three things she likes about Danville.

She always comes up with answers.

Related Stories

​Is the first-family gift saga reshaping Virginia’s image?

Virginia Business logo

A Clinton scenario could have ripple effects in Virginia

No victory lap after winning Amazon marathon

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk