The Patrick County Economic Summit was held on February 28, hosted by the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce and Reynolds Homestead. The Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement was contracted to provide facilitation and surveying to gain a better understanding of local business needs and challenges. This event hosted businesses with 25 or more employees. Pre and post workshop surveys were completed by attendees.
Pre-survey results were received from eleven companies representing a wide variety of industry and business in the county. Businesses included tourism, manufacturing, machining, fuel services, wholesale, construction, senior care and education. Many of our companies have been in business for several decades, with two identifying as serving the community for nearly a century. When asked to describe the local business community, many respondents mentioned the difficulties that come with operating a smaller localized business. Pre-survey results indicated that businesses found childcare options and finding new hires as “Very Challenging” while employee health and wellness and soft skill training were “Slightly Challenging.”
Respondents were also asked to identify business-related infrastructure challenges in the areas of utilities (water and sewer), broadband/internet, and the transportation of goods. Broadband/internet was identified as “Very Challenging” decreasing to “Slightly Challenging” for transportation of goods. Businesses were also asked to rank business support services such as: meeting technology needs (cybersecurity, networking, etc.), access to financing and capital, access to services assisting with markets and profitability, and finding quality legal, marketing and financial services. A quarter of the respondents indicated that meeting technology needs and access to services assisting with markets and profitability were “Very Challenging,” while most of the other business challenges were “Neutral” for the majority of the businesses.
During the workshop, attendees were split into seven different groups to discuss what is currently working well, pressing needs, and possible opportunities within their businesses and the county as a whole. Successes that were highlighted were appreciation for staff and new hires, positive relationships and partnerships with other businesses and clients, and a strong sense of community and support systems. Needs that were expressed were: hiring and retaining staff, lack of services including transportation, childcare and affordable housing, difficulty in affording increasing wages and lack of funding, and shortage of occupations including physicians, teachers, and HVAC technicians. With opportunities identified for development of incentives and highlighting factors to attract new young talent to the area such as tourism, art and music, restaurants and downtown revitalization, along with development of anchor institutions like healthcare facilities to serve both current needs and create new job opportunities.
The post summit survey asked attendees to list the county’s top strengths and weaknesses. Weaknesses highlighted are the aging workforce, healthcare, housing and rising costs. Strengths identified are leadership, lower cost of living, dedicated employees and educational programs.
In summary, the weaknesses that were highlighted are the same on a national level, but are felt more pronounced in smaller rural areas like Patrick County. Finding unique ways to better leverage our current resources and strengths can be used to combat some of the weaknesses. Utilizing our strength of the school system and programs offered through Patrick & Henry Community College can help address the challenge of finding qualified employees while keeping younger individuals in the area due to lower cost of living to fill in with our aging workforce. Thus, exacerbating the weaknesses of childcare options and low housing stock.
The last time such an event was held was in 2016 with a Town Hall meeting led by the Patrick County Education Foundation and P&HCC. While childcare and the need for professional services and healthcare were not top weaknesses for people in 2016, other weaknesses have been met and addressed with the following. The biggest investment would be Patrick & Henry Community College’s Baliles and Reynolds Learning Center in Stuart created in partnership with the Patrick County Education Foundation. This facility is training the next generation of machine operators and offers space for current employers to receive specialized training.
We currently have a joint welding program at the high school with students and is open to the public in the evenings. Several soft skill and skill development programs are or have been offered by the following: P&HCC Verizon camp, Reynolds Homestead Science based camps and Young Women Trailblazers, career expo, and the college fair at PCHS.
Entrepreneurial and business start-up programs have been offered by the chamber with their PC Business Builders bootcamp classes. The Reynolds Homestead has offered the Evolve program. Both of these programs have had successes in assisting new businesses in the county. The county is still pursuing funding to create the Small Business Development Center in Stuart. P&HCC offers a Fabrication Lab at their Stuart location to assist in 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC router projects.
The 2024 summit was a great starting point for so many paths the county leadership can take to help address these weaknesses. Providing this space for local businesses to network and discuss their challenges but also celebrate their successes is an important part of the process. The next step the chamber is taking will be to assist Reynolds Homestead as they spearhead the Work-Based Learning program for businesses and community partners to learn the multiple ways available to connect high school students with local businesses through job shadowing, internships, externships, and apprenticeships. We need to help our youth to see and understand all the opportunities that do exist in our county, while also encouraging them to create their own entrepreneurial path to fill in what is lacking.
The chamber, working with our county and town governments, also will be looking at future programming and projects that will help alleviate some of the challenges our businesses have. The chamber, along with Reynolds Homestead, are planning to offer a similar economic summit for our smaller businesses in the county. The Road Map to work based learning event will be held April 29 at the community room at P&HCC’s Stuart Site. This event will be free to attend but registration is encouraged.
The Chamber of Commerce and Reynolds Homestead would also like to thank Patrick County Economic Development Authority for their sponsorship of the Economic Summit, Food Country USA for food and water donation, Circle K Stuart for morning refreshments and the Patrick County High School Culinary Arts for providing the box lunches.
To read the full report, please visit the chamber’s website at www.patrickchamber.com.
