Getting Rural Virginia Connected: A Vision for the Future

Gibson P¹*, Uzel A¹*, and Calhoun B¹*

1. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Virginia’s rural communities lag the rest of the state in terms of income, education, and wealth. Most of these rural communities are saddled with high rates of poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing is that these rural communities have hidden treasures (skills, knowledge, and abilities of people) that only need to be discovered and properly engaged.

This project was designed to help rural communities in Virginia develop the capacities needed to prosper in the Information Age economy. Seven counties participated in this multi-faceted project in which citizens were given the leadership and technology training to run their own community networks. The rise of the Internet, coupled with the potential of having a high quality of life in rural communities, offered for the first time the promise that these communities could compete beyond geography. But it was very clear that injections of technology alone were not sufficient. These communities needed comprehensive assistance in five areas: leadership training and development for both citizens and local leaders; technology training and development for citizens and local leaders; a long term planning and visioning process that was professionally led; a virtual business incubator program providing technical assistance and business management advice to home-based and small business startups in each community; appropriate technology systems designed to support governance and economic development.

From this project a number of exciting economic happenings have occurred in these rural counties. Most important, citizens have become empowered to improve their community capacity to create successful futures.

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