Arthur Kimball-Stanley of the Providence Journal called last week and said he had read a lot on the Internet about what Roanoke was doing to attract and retain young adults. He wanted to include these efforts in an article he was writing about the same issue in Rhode Island. (It is still amazing to me that a journalist in Providence would find a lot of our efforts online.)

Reading his interviews, the story is the same no matter where you live. It is not a lack of jobs or things to do in these regions that are struggling with brain drain, yet it is a lack of effective communication and promotion of available jobs and things to do.

New and old communication channels are isolating and fragmenting generations and it is crippling the ability for people to effectively communicate a mass message. As a result, each side gets frustrated, without having a solution, and ultimately they either move elsewhere or just settle in a job in which they are UNDERemployed.

There is no one way to solve this issue, however, one way is to encourage the use of multi-communication channels (new and old) by both Boomers and Gen X and Y. Also, creating and forming personal offline relationships with people either older or younger than you can also help bridge the divide. 

If you have an opinion or solution, then please share your thoughts.