Last night at 202 Market in downtown Roanoke, NewVa Connects had a tremendous event bringing together many (at least 100-150) of the regions young professionals, including ones at our local colleges and universities.

The diversity at the event was equally impressive. A broad mix of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, professions, hometowns was represented. Many people commented on the success of the event through verbal comments, follow up emails, and Facebook posts.

Great job to all involved for making this event a success.

Last night at the WDBJ 7 community room, members from seven of the region’s young professional groups met to discuss ways in which each group could work together collectively in shaping the future of the region.

A special thanks goes to Nicole for her work in putting this group together.

Many things were said, discussed and shared. New relationships were informed. New energies were created. A list of follow up items emerged. Positive feelings oozed as a result of the discussion.

In the short-term each group agreed to participate and promote the July 6 First Fridays at 5 in downtown Roanoke at the railside amphitheater on Salem Avenue across the street from the bus station. Young adults from these groups and other not affiliated with a group are encouraged to come to this event to support the first of hopefully many joint efforts.

Stay tuned more on this meeting to come…

A colleague recently sent me an excerpt of a new study looking at entrepreneurship development as a key ingredient of overall economic development strategy. Finally, it seems more people are understanding the new way.

A growing number of economic development professionals have stopped chasing big businesses and started chasing the entrepreneurs who create them. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City shows that traditional top-down approaches to economic development that relied on luring big firms with tax breaks and other financial incentives are being replaced by bottom-up efforts to foster an entrepreneurial culture where startups can flourish. This approach relies on developing and supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses while improving infrastructure and developing a highly skilled and educated workforce. These efforts depend in large part on improving the quality of life in the community and creating an attractive business climate. While acknowledging that big firms contribute significantly to job creation and innovation, the author contends that concentrating on organic growth is likely to be a much more successful strategy than the recruitment of new firms. The hope is then that some of these home-grown businesses grow to become the big firms that offer better jobs and benefits to area residents.

The entire study can be found here:

Download RecentStudy062007.pdf

The human resources office at Virginia Tech asked for help in promoting their job openings. To read more about these click on this file and look for pay band 4,5,6.

Download vt_current_jobs_062007.pdf

Lauren LaCapra wrote a nice piece in today’s Wall Street Journal describing Pennsylvania’s struggles in retaining college students in their state despite a number of high-priced government initiatives.

This story illustrates that our region is not alone in the competition for local recent graduates and is encouraging that our programs are making progress.