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Youth Engagement Update
July 2015
In This Issue
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Recruiting Entrepreneurial Talent 

in Rural Virginia

As I shared last fall, I have been working with Highland County, Virginia to build a marketing strategy to attract young entrepreneurs to this uniquely beautiful part of our country. This work flows out of a 5-step process for communities seeking to recruit entrepreneurial talent, as well as skilled workforce and young families.


With the leadership of Betty Mitchell, Executive Director, and her staff at The Highland Center, we have completed a series of focus groups to determine the county's most compelling assets for recruiting entrepreneurs seeking rural quality of life and resources for growing their businesses, with parallel goals of creating quality jobs and new local wealth. We then conducted an online survey of key informants to determine the most vital motivators for successfully recruiting young entrepreneurial talent.

We are now focused on building the marketing campaign to promote the assets of Highland County to their target market using a variety of mediums including social media, festivals, community ambassadors and social events for young adults. We are also working to link this recruitment work with the county's tourism campaign promoting the annual Maple Festival, rural lifestyle and beauty of the area with the tagline, "Find Your Sweet Spot in Highland County."

Please let me know if you would like to learn more about how this straightforward approach to recruiting alums and newcomers can benefit your community!
 
Other Center News 
Latest e2 University Packages 
Don't miss our e2 University resource packages:
Later this month, we will be releasing our latest e2U package: Outreach, Intake, Screening and Referrals. The last package related to Working With Entrepreneurs - Tracking, Portfolios, Metrics and Stories will be released later.

Contact Dana Williams ([email protected]) for more information, or visit our online store to purchase any of our resource packages today!
For more information about anything you've read in this newsletter, please contact
 Craig Schroeder at [email protected].
The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship's mission is to help community leaders build a prosperous future by supporting and empowering business, social and civic entrepreneurs. With our roots and hearts in rural America, we help communities of all sizes and interests by bringing empowering research together with effective community engagement to advance community-driven strategies for prosperity. Our Solution Area teams empower community leaders to find their own answers to the economic development challenges and opportunities they face.