Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509080131
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"If somebody calls us, we either are going to A, help them directly; or B, we're going to find someone who can help them directly," said Bruce Blaylock, dean of Radford's College of Business and Economics.
Assuming Radford's plan succeeds, the New Century Council could consider one of its chief goals for the business community accomplished: to set up a comprehensive education program for owners and managers of existing and start-up small businesses.
The New Century Council's recent report contains about 150 ideas for improving the region's economy and quality of life. It took hundreds of volunteers almost two years to propose, refine and write the list, and it is supposed to cover the needs of the Roanoke and New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands area for 20 years. State and private donors paid administrative costs of the council's work.
But since hundreds of people attended public meetings throughout July to find out what was in the report, there has been little visible progress toward implementing the ideas.
The question of what is going to happen next rests now with the council's steering committee, which hopes to present ways to implement the plan later this month or in October.
As it turns out, Radford is among a number of organizations that isn't waiting to hear the committee's strategy. Witness:
nThe Fifth Planning District Commission determined it could help make reality of 31 of the recommendations. It still must decide which ones to assign to its staff and promised to let the council know in a few weeks.
The commission is inviting the New River Valley and West Piedmont planning district commissions, which serve the rest of the New Century region, to sign a commitment to help out.
nThere is talk of a joint meeting to discuss New Century recommendations among the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership in Roanoke, the New River Valley Economic Alliance in Christiansburg and Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Authority, based in Covington, said Beverly Fitzpatrick, the council's executive director.
nThe Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce told Fitzpatrick that it stands behind him.
nThe Roanoke County Board of Supervisors passed a support resolution for the council in July. Also, Roanoke Mayor David Bowers invited Fitzpatrick to appear before City Council and tell city-elected leaders how they can help.
The recommendations are like a giant punchlist in Fitzpatrick's mind, much of which he can recite from memory.
"People are beginning to talk about them and decide whether they want to do them or not. I don't know what it will amount to at this point, but the fact that they are talking about it, recognize it and know it's important to 1,000 people, says something," Fitzpatrick said.
The group of 1,000 refers to everyone who ever helped the council produce its visioning statements.
Radford University is an 85-year-old former teaching college that is now a comprehensive coed university. It has looked at the New Century Council plan, too, and can cite the chapters and page numbers of the strategies it wants to tackle.
"Someone's got to step up to the plate. We feel the role of the university is to provide some leadership," said Blaylock, the business dean.
Significant in his comment is that the 250-page report more often looks to much larger Virginia Tech for the kind of leadership that Radford seems to be offering. Fitzpatrick said the door is open for Tech, a 123-year-old land grant university dedicated to the creation and dissemination of research, to tackle as many as 58 recommendations in the report - namely, those which name Tech as project leader or involve higher education in some way. That's fully one-third of all suggestions. Also, Tech is co-founder of the council.
At this point, though Tech backs the recommendations of the report, it isn't ready to say what it is willing to do to implement the New Century plan. Ralph Byers, director of government relations, said, "We have not yet sat down and gone over each individual recommendation and made assignments and timelines and that sort of thing."
Granted, Radford had been working on its proposed business assistance center. When its faculty successfully pushed to have something like it included in the New Century plan, it had a leg up.
Here's the concept: Radford and one or more unidentified partners envision a place of learning for students of business and economics that doubles as a resource for the business community.
Students supervised by faculty and faculty members working alone would undertake such tasks. These tasks include cataloging domestic and international markets for Western Virginia businesses and taking an inventory of higher education training and retaining programs, so it can refer those in need.
The center would offer management and employee training, do custom research, provide student interns to businesses, offer Internet access, recruit speakers on business trends and topics and host conferences.
"Our students get to put their hands on something that is truly business," Blaylock said.
Radford has rented offices near campus and hired as the center's executive director Jerry Kopf. He is currently an associate professor of management and directs Radford's Small Business Institute, a classroom exercise in which students do projects needed by businesses. Its future is threatened by potential budget cuts at the Small Business Administration, but creation of the center would save it, Blaylock said.
The center also will become the new home of the Virginia Economic Bridge Initiative, a funding program for businesses at George Mason University in Fairfax. That program began in 1989 as a means of linking the business and technology boom in Northern Virginia to the excess pool of labor in Southwest Virginia. On Oct. 15, the bridge initiative's main offices move to Radford University while a satellite office remains at George Mason.
Funding for the center will come from $50,000 out of $500,000 in state funds to help Radford cope with having to abort a planned global studies program, designed to prepare young people to live and work in the 21st century. The business assistance center hopes to try to accomplish some of the aims of the defunct program.
Blaylock now hopes the center can perform well enough to keep its state funding and attract private dollars. He is eager to get the doors open, for debate over new year's budget is about half a year away.
"We've got a six-month window to get this up and running and show promise," he said.
by CNB