Planning Ahead for Economic Success

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

Jim Charapich

April 15, 2013

Last week was a very revealing week for me. I was fortunate to facilitate a session for Germanna Community College’s Center for Workforce and Community Education Annual Workforce Development Advisory meeting on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at the Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper. The breakout session that I facilitated was to understand the needs of Professional Services businesses with regard to training and courses offered by Germanna. The room was filled with business professionals from the Germanna Community College footprint from Stafford / Fredericksburg to Culpeper. The needs ranged from healthcare to engineering. One consistent need is for “soft skills” which consist of communication skills, both written and verbal. These are especially true in the context of teamwork. Germanna has well established courses that address these needs.

However, there were a few newer ideas. The one that was most surprising to me was the need for security and emergency contingency planning  for businesses. It is easy to think of this in the context of a single department. However, the discussion focused more on the need for security and contingency planning to be fully integrated into most departments in an organization. Sessions like these are vital for a Community College to be nimble in delivering relevant training to the workforce in its service area. I am thankful for the Germanna Community College Leadership in seeking the needs of the business community and delivering results for a stronger workforce.

Preceeding my session at the Advisory meeting, we were presented with an Economic outlook by Dr. Chmura of Chmura Economics. The figures presented were sobering in understanding our vulnerability in Virginia resulting from sequestration. As I understood the figures presented, Virginia receives the largest share of Federal spending by state. The spending amounts to 13% of our GDP. The chart showing the projected reduction in Federal spending in 2013 & 2014 left me with the conclusion that we are in for a year of economic impact. What will be the real impact? Though difficult to predict, the need to find ways to shelter our local economy is essential. We may find the silver lining is that we are a solution to the cost savings needed by beltway companies. Nevertheless, we need to make sure that our government funded economic development, tourism, and Main Street dollars are invested for the best immediate returns. If we can see a storm coming, then we need to deploy a strategy to secure our economic vitality.

Finally, The Culpeper Chamber hosted other Chamber executives from around the Commonwealth as part of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Executives Round Table Series. Our discussion was focused on how to best serve our business community. We offer a variety of ways to do this and having other Chamber organizations share best practices is a compliment to our Chamber of Commerce brand. The leadership of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce has fostered a spirit of collaboration among Chambers. The Virginia economy is stronger as a result.

Representatives from Alexandria, Prince William County, Fauquier County, Madison County, Luray / Page County, Fredericksburg, and Richmond met on Davis Street in Downtown Culpeper to discuss how to best serve our business communities. A special thanks to Anne Richardson for opening The Choice Inc.'s Citizen Leadership Institute as such an impressive meeting space in Culpeper.