Today I attended the Economic Development Summit ¨Transformation 20/20¨ at UMW in Stafford. Economic Development is more than a campaign slogan or talking point! Where were the other 3 James Monroe candidates who claim they support economic development? My concerns regarding the County and our economic development were reinforced today! WORKFORCE is the biggest factor in economic development, recruitment, and retention. ¨Pipeline of qualified workers¨, supports my proposal of expanding our VOTECH program! King George offers many great attributes, but we are hampered by the lack of a skilled workforce. We need a diverse, skilled population outside of the Federal workforce. Consider impacts on the local economy with sequestration, furloughs, or government spending cuts. Rather than time spent on the roads in commuter gridlock, we should have OUR professionals and their dollars off of the roads and retained here in our county! Keep dollars spent on lunch, shopping, supplies, etc. with our retailers in our County! We need to look at targeting and attracting sectors that are growing, not in decline! We need a Strategic Plan on HOW to get there and to identify WHEN we get there. Regional growth areas are in Finance, insurance, real estate; health and life science; information and communications; manufacturing; and public administration (government employees). Some statistics provided for Fredericksburg Planning District 16: current population is approx. 327, 000. Projections based off of current growth pattern have population of 617,000 by 2040. Transportation is a serious problem that requires addressing in that 40% of the workforce in this region commutes out of the area!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:31:58 +0000
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