Andrew Cohill’s blog talks about the importance of "economic development blogging" and Connecting People is linked in the post. His comments are very insightful. Subscribe to his feed. It offers a lot of cutting-edge thoughts on the future of technology. 

Link: Technology Futures |.

CEOs for Cities recently released (Dec, 2005) a fantastic research paper on the Young and the Restless in a Knowledge Economy produced by Joe Cortright of Impresa Consulting. It details the 25-34 age group tendencies using US Census data to show MSAs that are attracting this segment of the population. The wealth of knowledge and data is too much to mention in one post, but if you are at all interested in the topic that this blog is about, then take a minute and review this paper. Unfortunately, Roanoke and Blacksburg MSA data is not included for comparison purposes.

In the meantime, I hope to have future posts that reference this report, which I feel is the best message by far at communicating the significance of this age group in regional economic development.

As the new year begins many look for new career opportunities. Here are three I recommend.

(1) General Manager, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service - Christiansburg. This position needs to be filled immediately as the tax preparation season begins the first of the year. Learn directly from an entrepreneur who has expanded the franchise throughout the region. Call Dave at 540-381-5555.

(2) Sales Associate, Webmail.us - Blacksburg. CEO Pat Matthews has built a fast-growing email hosting company. Hop on this fast-moving train and be part of its growth. If you are motivated by a sales environment see the job description.

(3) Assistant/Associate Director of Development for Fine and Performing Arts at Virginia Tech. Dan Pink and Richard Florida discuss the rise of the "creative class" and the importance of the "conceptual age" as Master’s in Fine Arts are becoming more in demand than Master’s in Business Administration. What a great opportunity to build support for new facility and interact with influential people across the region. For more send an email inquiry. 

If you are an employer, fill free to send a comment of your own job description and I will make a post as well.

"asap is the AP’s new multimedia service featuring original content designed to appeal to under-35-year-old readers, a coveted but elusive audience, and to connect with them – on their terms." This is certainly a positive step in bridging the generational differences.

Also, below is a recent AP story discusses the differences between Baby Boomers and Generations X and Y. Specifically, the story states the extreme disconnect between the two groups, unwillingness for Baby Boomers to pass the torch, and the rationales for work ethics.

Link: KMOV.com | News for St. Louis, Missouri | Home.

Good-bye to my friend Justin Hendrix who served at the Institute in Danville for over a year in promoting economic development and young adult involvement for not only Southside VA, but for all of Virginia. He will return to the Economist in New York. Justin was everywhere in the region and I believe he really understood what it takes to move a region forward. I am happy for his new opportunity, but disappointed… again… that we lose yet another bright mind to the big cities. 

A friend showed me this wonderful article of what other cities and regions are doing to address Brain Drain. Click on the link and scroll down to "Keeping the brains in town".

Link: EDPro Weblog: Economic Development for Today’s Professionals.

Last night at the Council on Virginia’s Futures’ Forum in Richmond, Richard Florida spoke to a group of 200 folks about the Flight of the Creative Class. He said the two characteristics of growth cities are (1) quality of life amenities and (2) inclusion and acceptance of people. These are the cities where the creative class is going.

He also made a point that the recent college graduate is the most excluded group in cities. These are the exact people that we have in the Roanoke and New River Valleys that we must retain for the future prosperity of our region.

You can read more about Florida and his clippings and books at the following link. 

Link: CreativeClass.org.