How to make "us" better

Published in the Culpeper Star Exponent on October 4th, 2010

Real estate values are low. There are high numbers of foreclosures. There is high unemployment. Some of our critical services are stretched to a very thin line. County and State budgets are very lean. And the news seems to be more challenging than assuring for economic improvement.

That is until we look at Culpeper and what we are doing to strengthen our local economy. One of my favorite quotes from Brian Tracy a motivational speaker is that “If it is going to be, it is up to me”. “ME” meaning as a community it is up to “US” to find ways to bring economic prosperity to our community.

What are we doing / can we do to set the stage for this transition to the “next economy”? First, the Town Council and the Board of Supervisors are working in historically significant unity. They plan to resolve the water and sewer issues that have consumed time and resources for decades with little progress. In addition to the many attributes that we have for job creation, optimizing our water and sewer resources leads “US” toward a stronger economic foundation.

Next, we know that a large percentage of our workforce travels north everyday from Culpeper. It is important to know what the job skills for that work force are. We need to focus on finding grants or resources to identify this information in order to show new and relocating companies what the local workforce skills are. We know that most commuters would prefer to work where they live. Please contact the Culpeper Chamber if you are interested in working on grant sourcing for this mission. Our Technology Council will be working on this in the coming months. This also helps Germanna in planning for curriculum for the local workforce. It would be great if our commuters used Germanna for their training rather than staying in NOVA to take classes.

The retail numbers for Culpeper were up 8% thru July over last year. Though this is good news, it is over last year, which was a tough year. This does indicate that there are more dollars being spent in Culpeper. We need to continue to find ways to invite visitors to come to Culpeper and enjoy our retail, restaurants, and hospitality businesses. We have strategic opportunities this autumn time of year. However, we need to focus on the tougher months of January thru March for this segment of our economy. Culpeper would be a great location for small 25 to 100 person conferences, tournaments, church programs, and association meetings…. We can all work together to pull this economy forward. Every event makes a difference. Bring your friends and associates to discover Culpeper. They will thank you.

Though we are making progress, we have some work to do…We need to stimulate our home sales, bring our real estate values up, thus, brining more tax revenue into the Town and County, eliminate the foreclosure problem, and get our building community back to work. We need to stimulate our retail / hospitality businesses with a strong buy local focus to support the businesses during the slower sales days of the mid week (see CulpeperChamber.com for Hot Deals). We need to bring visitors here for meetings and on the weekends to discover our quality of life. “If it is going to be it is up to US”

Best Regards

Jim Charapich
President / CEO
Culpeper Chamber of Commerce