District
Dr. Carole Pratt has pledged her efforts to work to bring new jobs to our communities and keep those we already have. Our most valuable resource is our young people and they deserve the choice of living, working, and raising a family in our region. With one out of every ten of our friends and neighbors unemployed, nearly double the number of a year ago, job creation and retention is Carole's first priority.
INCREASING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
Our area has a thriving export business. Each spring we proudly graduate our best and brightest young people from our high schools and colleges only to see many of them forced to move away in order to find jobs. As your delegate, Carole will work to reverse this trend by:
1. Encouraging young people to stay in this area by proposing a plan to provide tuition loan pay back when graduates work in the district.
2. Strengthening partnerships between New River Community College and Wytheville Community College and private businesses that focus on worker training and retraining so we have a more skilled workforce to help attract new jobs.
3. Participating in the bipartisan Grow By Degrees initiative to emphasize priorities that will create opportunities for students by investing in awarding 70,000 additional college degrees by 2020, concentrating on high-income, high-demand disciplines such as teaching and healthcare.
4. Developing new, cost-effective ways for deserving students of all ages to attend college while holding down costs for taxpayers and tuition-paying families.
5. Working for serious investment in our public research universities while developing greater regional public-private partnerships.
SUPPORT FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES AND NEW JOB CREATION
Our region's jobs are predominantly from smaller businesses, those Carole likes to call "homegrown." Regions like ours historically attract smaller companies to locate here. Carole's experience with the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, Virginia's Small Business Advisory Board, Pulaski Encouraging Progress, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership has given her a lot to think about when it comes to job creation and retention. Carole believes in investing in options with records of success and will work to support homegrown businesses already here and to attract new jobs to the area by:
1. Working to establish economic development funding for rural areas like ours so we can better compete for jobs by providing performance based incentives to companies, encouraging them to locate here and create new jobs.
2. Ensuring that state policies do not create climates that encourage companies to outsource jobs.
3. Working to extend internet access to our most remote areas to allow for job creation through the option of telecommuting.
4. Modifying the Governor's Opportunity Fund to allow the Governor more flexibility in using this very effective fund for rural job creation and retention.
5. Securing sufficient operating funds to position Virginia in target markets for our region.
6. Working to put into place the same level of support and attention for existing, homegrown businesses as is employed to attract new jobs.
BRINGING YOUR TAX DOLLARS BACK TO WORK FOR YOU
Unemployment rates in our district are nearly double what they were only a year ago with one out of ten women and men out of a job. Earlier this year, our current delegate voted to reject $125 MILLION DOLLARS in Federal stimulus money that would have helped our working families hardest hit by the economic crisis. Dr. Pratt found that vote unconscionable and as your delegate, she will fight to bring every one of your tax dollars back to invest in our communities and our futures.