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On April 6th a total of 16 people attended an introductory workshop to learn about a variety of social media outlets. Presenter Sandy Ratliff with the Virginia Department of Business Assistance shared information about how social media is a dialogue with your customers, not just a monologue. Social media allows you to reach a new market and spread the word quicker about products and services. Presenters Cindy Greene from People Incorporated Financial Services and Kitty Barker with Virginia Tourism Corporation shared the necessary introductory knowledge to beginning the journey into various social media outlets such as FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Sandy Ratliff completed the presentation by presenting ideas for content, tools to manage a social media marketing campaign, and answering questions from the audience. The participants provided excellent feedback and felt they were able to walk away from the workshop with information to begin using at least one new social media outlet for their business.

On April 28th, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, People Incorporated, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation returned to the Crossroads Institute to host an Intermediate Social Media Workshop. Many businesses have started a Facebook site but now what? This workshop was designed for business owners who already understand the basics of Social Media Marketing, but want to delve deeper into more advanced and technical tools: producing relevant content as well as customer engagement and the building of an online community.

If you are interested in learning more about social media or when the next workshop will be offered please contact Mandy Archer at (276) 236-0391 or assistant@brceda.org.

For fourteen years, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance has coordinated Business Appreciation Week (BAW), a week-long, statewide event developed to raise awareness of the positive impacts Virginia businesses provide to the Commonwealth and localities. Governor Bob McDonnell has designated May 2-6, Business Appreciation Week 2011.

This year’s theme, “Entrepreneurship and Innovation for a Sustainable Future,” is to highlight the Governor’s remarks on making Virginia the “Energy Capital of the East Coast,” as well as focusing on new and green technologies.

There are typically 75 to 100 local Business Appreciation Week events held throughout the Commonwealth following the Kick-Off Breakfast, which is scheduled for Monday, May 2nd in Richmond. For a complete listing of statewide functions, visit www.vdba.virginia.gov.

The 2011 BAW logo is complete and collateral materials have been made available for distribution. Go to the Business Appreciation Week webpage for more information, www.vdba.virginia.gov/BAW2011/.

As the managing entity for the Park, BRCEDA subsequently approved a financing offer from the National Bank, based in Blacksburg. These regional actions conclude the funding necessary to acquire and initially develop the Wildwood Commerce Park. In 2010, the Virginia Tobacco Commission provided a $1 million site acquisition grant and followed up with a $3.8 million mega-site grant award in January 2011. The Appalachian Regional Commission has also reserved $500,000 for water and sewer development.

“This is one of the most important things we’ve done in a long time,” said Galax Mayor C.M. Mitchell. “It may take one year or it may take five years for it to come to fruition, but it’s an example of how we can work together for the betterment of the area.”

Wildwood is located adjacent to Exit 19 of Interstate 77 in Carroll County. To further the project of creating a regional commerce park, the localities and BRCEDA entered into a partnership and revenue sharing agreement in September 2010. The initial phase of the site development will yield a fifty-acre graded pad with an access road, water, sewer, and fiber. Engineering for electricity will also be completed in the initial phase of the site development. Natural gas service is also available. Wildwood is currently listed with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s available sites.

The next step in marketing Wildwood to companies to locate at the Park includes refining a target industry analysis. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia’s a-Corridor are working with BRCEDA to accomplish this component.

In one of the defining aspects of the program, participants will work through the Blue Ridge Crossroads Small Business Development Center’s unique business planning process. Using the same method which has helped over 150 local business owners create or expand their businesses, program participants will meet one-on-one with experts in business planning, financial planning, and marketing. These sessions help them inventory their skills and learn how to turn those skills into profitable entrepreneurial ventures. At the end of the process, participants should have a complete business plan which is ready to take to prospective lenders.

Blue Ridge Crossroads entrepreneur program participants will also attend a wide variety of seminars intended to illuminate a number of business concepts. The “Core Four” seminar explains in depth four of the most important concepts involved in running a small business. Participants are taught how to recognize their skills and limitations and to plan the business around them, how to identify and chase a target market, how to assess a business’s financial potential and future, and how to conduct the day-to-day operations of a business in keeping with regulations and best practices. In another workshop, customer service experts will teach them how to forge productive relationships with their customers, earning repeat business and valuable word-of-mouth advertising.

In addition to business plan counseling and seminars, participants in the program will receive other benefits that will help them start their businesses. Counselors are available to instruct them in securing insurance and taking care of their finances. Once they finish the program, participants are eligible to receive up to a $2,000 grant, money which will help them take care of start-up expenses.

The first class of entrepreneurs are in the middle of the program currently. If the program proves successful, more classes will be enrolled. If you would like more information about the program, please contact Mandy Archer by phone at (276) 236-0391 or by e-mail at marcher@crossroadsva.org.

The Blue Ridge Crossroads Economic Development Authority (BRCEDA) is pleased to announce that the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission in January 2011 awarded a second grant for the Wildwood Commerce Park in the amount of $3.8 million for site development. This grant award follows a 2010 grant award of $1 million by the Commission for BRCEDA’s acquisition of the 167-acre site.

And, in February 2011, the Commonwealth of Virginia recommended a federal Appalachian Regional Commission grant of $500,000 for water and wastewater extensions to the Wildwood Commerce Park site. To date, the project has received $5.3 million in grant awards toward the initial $11 million project budget.

“We are approaching a dollar-for-dollar match between grants and local dollars necessary to develop the Wildwood Commerce Park. With a project of this size and scope, having one grant dollar for every local dollar is a significant accomplishment for the region’s economic development initiatives” stated Ken McFadyen, Regional Director of the Blue Ridge Crossroads Economic Development Authority.

In making the January grant award, the Virginia Tobacco Commission awarded a total of $20 million to seven megasite projects in Southside and Southwest Virginia. Megasite projects are defined as those that should generate at least 400 jobs and $250 million in private investment. The grant award to BRCEDA of $3.8 million represents the highest award made among the three projects in Southwest Virginia, which also includes Washington and Smyth counties.

“The work that Carroll, Galax and Grayson are dedicating through BRCEDA is showing results. The Tobacco Commission’s grant award for the Wildwood Commerce Park will greatly assist the region in creating long-term solutions for job growth and private investment that will bolster the local and regional economy,” stated Delegate Bill Carrico, who attended the Commission’s meeting in Richmond with representatives from Carroll, Grayson and BRCEDA.

The Wildwood Commerce Park is part of a 1,400 acre tract located off Exit 19 of Interstate 77. BRCEDA has optioned 167 acres of this tract, of which 50 acres have already been graded and provided with retention pond access.

This initiative is a collaborative effort involving Carroll County, Grayson County, and the City of Galax, with BRCEDA serving in a management role. The Mount Rogers Planning District Commission has provided vital planning and technical assistance. The land is privately owned, and the owners have invested significant resources in the site in partnership with the localities involved. For the $3.8 million grant award, the private property owners are contributing additional cash and services valued at $675,000. The 167 acres has been optioned for $6.25 million and has been appraised at $6.4 million.

The purpose of the Wildwood Commerce Park is to attract well-paying, high-quality jobs in growing, next-level business sectors.

The $3.8 million Virginia Tobacco Commission grant will be dedicated to engineering and related costs, in addition to funding the construction of water, sewer, access road and fiber communications.

Following the grant approval, Delegate Terry Kilgore, who chairs the Tobacco Commission, stated that the “Localities in the megasite program will now need to step up to the plate to invest and create jobs for the region.”

BRCEDA was formed to provide the leadership for economic development efforts that would benefit the Twin County region. Over the last two years, BRCEDA has established the most successful Small Business Development Center in Virginia, leading to the creation of over 116 new businesses. Before the creation of a stand alone Wired Road Broadband Authority, BRCEDA led the effort to create Virginia’s first community-owned, open access regional broadband network. Most recently, BRCEDA is working with the Town of Fries and Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to begin the implementation of the new Fries Master Plan.

For many small businesses, the difference between success and failure lies in how well they cultivate return customers and word-of-mouth advertising. Entrepreneurs who want to learn how to build these relationships should attend the Customer Service Workshop held at the Crossroads Institute on November 18th from 4 to 6 pm. This seminar will help attendees understand the customer’s point of view and cultivate employees who work together to put the customer first.

Entrepreneurs who are about to start or have just started businesses often struggle with planning their first steps. This is an integral but underappreciated part of being a small business owner; owners who have set goals and know what to expect are much more likely to succeed. The Business Basics Workshop, which will be held at Grayson National Bank Meeting Room in Independence from 1 to 4 pm on November 30th, is designed to help entrepreneurs understand and work through the business planning process.

Many small business owners are unaware of the great variety of resources they can take advantage of to help them start or grow a business. Entrepreneur Express, a workshop which will be held at the 1908 Historic Courthouse in Independence on December 9th from 9 am to noon, is a great way to learn about all these resources. The workshop will give attendees information on running a business, marketing, and financing. In addition, there will be a resource fair, which will give entrepreneurs a chance to meet with a number of people, businesses, and organizations which can help them grow and succeed

Small business owners and prospective entrepreneurs will both find lots of valuable information in these programs. All of these events are offered free of charge. If you wish to register for one of these workshops, please contact us by phone at (276) 236-0391 or by e-mail at marcher@crossroadsva.org.

Virginia Secretary of Commerce Jim Cheng and Deputy Secretary for Rural Economic Development Mary Rae Carter came to the Crossroads region in late April. Secretary Cheng was responding to an invitation forwarded by Delegate Bill Carico. Mr. Cheng and Ms. Carter attended a presentation given by BRCEDA emphasizing the organization’s past successes and future collaboration initiatives.

The next important visit occurred in late June, when a group from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, headed by ARC co-chair and presidential appointee Ray Gohl, stopped by the Crossroads Institute on a trip through the region. BRCEDA Board Chairman Mike Maynard gave a presentation which laid out the region’s economic development plan, discussed some of the challenges the Twin Counties face, and celebrated the region’s economic development successes. Mr. Gohl and the other guests were then given a tour of the Crossroads Institute by institute director Oliver McBride.

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling stopped by the Crossroads Institute on June 29 while on a three-day trip through Southwest Virginia. He joined Delegate Bill Carrico in celebrating a $1 million dollar grant received by the Town of Fries to support its downtown revitalization efforts. Mr. Bolling also took the time to discuss with a crowd of local officials and citizens the current administration’s economic development efforts and their effect on the Twin Counties.

Most recently, in August, BRCEDA traveled to Richmond to meet with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and the Virginia Department of Transportation. As part of this visit, BRCEDA met with Deputy Secretary Carter and Assistant Secretary of Commerce & Trade Jimmie Rhee to describe the region’s economic development model and detail its accomplishments. ###

The initial development phase of the Wildwood Commerce Park involves $8.3 million in infrastructure development. This phase should establish water, wastewater, natural gas, electricity, and fiber access; subsequent phases include grading more land for business recruitment.

BRCEDA was formed to provide the leadership for economic development efforts that would benefit the Twin County region. Over the last two years BRCEDA has established the most successful Small Business Development Center in Virginia, leading to the creation of over 116 new businesses. BRCEDA also helped lead efforts to expand broadband access in the region, efforts which ultimately produced the stand-alone Wired Road Broadband Authority, Virginia’s first community-owned, open access regional broadband network. Most recently, BRCEDA has been working with the Town of Fries and Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to begin the implementation of the new Fries Master Plan, which could lead to as much as $15,000,000 in new investments in Fries.