A return to roots:

By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

September 18, 2006 09:19 pm

— NORTON, Va. — Gov. Timothy M. Kaine took his administration on the road Monday across Southwest Virginia where he reinforced his support for the Coalfields Expressway, and unveiled a campaign aimed at reaching thousands of the region’s alumni.
Kaine, who made stops in Norton and Marion, said his “Return to Roots” campaign aims to reach an estimated 15,000 alumni who graduated from high schools across Southwest Virginia during the last 20 years, but have since left the region. Financed through a grant award from the state’s Tobacco Commission, the program will try to reach the alumni through a website, direct mail and the news media to inform them about new employment opportunities that exist today in Southwest Virginia.
“I think it’s a pretty smart strategy,” Kaine told the Daily Telegraph. “The idea of course is we want to recruit good people for these jobs.”
Kaine said the 15,000 plus alumni now scattered out across the nation already know Southwest Virginia is a great place to live and work. The campaign simply aims to reach them, and encourages them to return home.
Kaine said Southwest Virginia is seeing an increase in job vacancies with improving employment rates. For example, Kaine said just last year more than 700 information technology jobs were created in Russell County.
“They (the alumni) are a little bit everywhere,” Kaine said. “It can be hard to find them. But most high schools have reunions. Many of them can be reached through alumni associations and high school associations.”
Kaine also received a briefing Monday on the Coalfields Expressway while visiting the John I. Burton High School in Norton.
“I’m very committed to it,” Kaine said of the new four-lane highway for Southwest Virginia. “I think it’s a really good project. The key is we’ve got a good group of folks in place now with Alpha and Pioneer.”
The two-private coal companies are partnering with the Commonwealth to construct the Coalfields Expressway in Southwest Virginia. Kaine said he awarded a $2 million grant from the state’s Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund in July to help initiate preliminary project development activities on the four-lane highway.
The private sector partners, Pioneer Group Inc., and Alpha Natural Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. will help to substantially reduce the cost of building the new four-lane highway by creating the roadway bed through the extraction of coal.
“I think there are different needs for different transportation projects,” Kaine said. “Some you need to solve congestion and some are deemed necessary for economic development.”
Kaine said the Coalfields Expressway is critical to economic growth in Southwest Virginia. He said the $2 million state grant was awarded in July to help jump-start the project. “It had been a little bit dormant,” Kaine said.
Kaine, who toured Southwest Virginia Monday with members of his cabinet, said his Cabinet Community Day sessions will continue across the Commonwealth over the course of his administration.
“Every governor is active in traveling, but the idea of bringing the entire cabinet out, and having the cabinet to meet and spend the day in the region that they are responsible for - I think it’s just a great way to make a connection,” Kaine said. “I don’t know if there is another governor who has done regular Cabinet Community Days. We intend to do it throughout the four years. We started last month in the Hampton Roads area. We are doing Winchester in October. So probably once a month we’ll be out on the road doing these cabinet meetings.”
– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com