E&H forums build regional conversation

By STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS/Staff

The questions got harder as the conversation progressed, but neither the intensity nor the scope of the queries stopped a group of area leaders from sharing their ideas about how this region’s communities can improve.
Monday, Emory & Henry College and Virginia Cooperative Extension hosted a lunchtime forum of leaders from Smyth and Washington counties. The concept of leaders was expanded to include service agency and non-profit heads and business leaders among others.
The Marion forum was one of 13 that began in mid-March and will continue until May 1 and cover all of Southwest Virginia, from the New River Valley to the Kentucky border.
Dr. Tal Stanley, director of E&H’s Appalachian Center for Community Service, told the gathering that the forums were designed to bring together neighbors and leaders to build a conversation ensuring that the region’s communities are sustainable, strong and welcoming.
The sessions weren’t one-time events. Stanley noted that all participants will receive reports from the other forums and the first project newsletter will be distributed in the next two weeks. These initial meetings, he said, will begin building a network to explore ways to bring out concrete solutions to community issues.
Four questions were put to all forum participants.
1. What do you see as the community’s most pressing needs and urgent concerns?
2. What do you see as the community’s greatest assets and resources?
3. Working together, how can we build on those assets and resources to address those needs and concerns?
4. What do you understand to be the principal educational needs of this community’s civic leaders? How can they be better equipped for civic leadership?
Once the question about needs was put forth, answers began pouring out. More than two dozen were eventually presented and included jobs, stagnant population growth, aging population, health care and mental health care, housing, regional identity, domestic violence, education, drugs, and child care.
Answers weren’t slow to come about the community’s assets either. An equivalent number of resources were identified. Some of those listed were strong education systems with low dropout rates, outdoor recreation and natural beauty, library systems, the proximity of Emory & Henry and the region’s higher education center, libraries, unique history and attractions, cultural fixtures such as Barter Theatre and the Lincoln Theatre and the musical heritage, civic pride, growing downtowns, low crime rate, and citizens’ adaptability and willingness to work toward solutions.
Before posing the third question, Stanley issued one instruction: “Do not allow yourself to think ‘Well, we’ve never done it that way before.’ Throw those words out of the room.”
This time the answers were more deliberate. Among the ideas were:
— Develop intergenerational day care centers;
— Create youth entrepreneur programs to encourage young people to think about what can be accomplished professionally in Southwest Virginia;
— Develop financial management training;
— Build a new adult vocational center;
— Encourage greater participation in community planning;
— Develop an institute for the advancement of Southwest Virginia;
— Build on tourism strengths and the agricultural foundation by promoting regionally made products.
The fourth question drew the fewest answers, but included discussion on creating a clearinghouse of information about the region’s diverse resources and how to access them and providing accessible and affordable training for civic leaders.
At the session’s conclusion, Stanley described the forum as fruitful and exciting. He said it demonstrates the participants “were passionate about this place” and “willing to work together.”
He told the group that E&H and Extension are committed to building upon the forums’ results.
In an interview after the session, Stanley said that many of the ideas are common among all Southwest Virginia communities, but he noted that diversity exists between the Coalfield counties and the New River Valley.
Stanley, who proposed the regional conversation idea, said he hoped to create a network of people talking about Southwest Virginia long-term. “I think you have to build from the ground up.”
Scott Tate, the forum’s co-moderator and an Extension specialist, described the process as organic and leading to goals that are yet to be defined. He agreed with Stanley’s consensus about the participants. “People are passionate.”
Stanley concluded, “We want to be a partner with the people of Southwest Virginia, however they want that to be.”
Both men encouraged interested people to attend one of the remaining forums. On April 30, a forum will be held in Washington County at the Meadowview Community Center and on May 1 another session will be held in Grayson County at Davis-Bourne Inn.

Stephanie Porter-Nichols may be reached at 783-5121 or .

Upcoming forums
April 17—Scott County, Scott County Recreation Dept.
April 21—Pulaski County, Rockwood Manor
April 28—Tazewell & Russell counties, Southwest Va. Community College
April 29 – Buchanan County, Appalachian School of Law, Booth Center
April 30 – Washington County-Bristol, Meadowview Community Center
May 1 – Grayson County, Davis-Bourne Inn