Download the articles from the September 2010 issue of Southwest Airlines’ Spirit Magazine:

• Part 1) Meet Hampton Roads:  Virginia’s hub of convenience, commerce, and coastal charms. History, commerce, military power, and hometown hospitality intersect in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Freedom was won here, and independence was conceived here. Rob Cross, Virginia Arts Festival’s Executive and Artistic Director, is featured as Hampton Roads’ very own music man.
• Part 2) Live:  From waterside condos to downtown Victorians, lifestyle choices abound.
• Part 3) Work:  A strong military presence sets the pace. Hampton Roads is at the forefront of the art-meets-science modeling and simulation industry, initially supported by the military and now heavily used in commercial transportation, medicine, and other fields. A hub for healthcare, too.
• Part 4) Play:  From boardwalks to Broadway, there’s no shortage of entertainment in Hampton Roads. The Sporting Life: Hampton Roads takes sports seriously. Passionate fans make up for the absence of a big-league franchise with their support for a wide range of collegiate and amateur athletics as well as minor league competition.
• Part 5) Eat:  Seafood naturally, but so much more.
• Part 6) Sleep:  The past never sleeps at these historic inns, but you can.

Link to more on “Meet Hampton Roads from the air“

As the tough times continue… Where is our regional economy headed? How does our port size up against other east coast container ports? What can we learn about light rail from other cities? Why are we feeling so much pain in the office/industrial real estate markets? How are we doing? Dashboard indicators of Vision Hampton Roads.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. James V. Koch, President Emeritus and Professor of Economics, Old Dominion University Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Time: 7:45 a.m. Registration; 8:00-9:30 a.m. Breakfast and presentation followed by discussion Location: Norfolk Waterside Marriott

The Annual State of the Region Address will provide the most comprehensive review of the region’s current economic strengths, challenges, and interrelationships.  Engage in discussion with business, community, and government leaders from the 17 communities of greater Hampton Roads. Attendees will receive a copy of “The State of the Region 2010″ produced by the Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University.

Register HERE.

For more information, contact Angela Blackwell Carter, Vice President, Leadership Programs for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, 500 East Main Street, Suite 700, Norfolk, VA 23510 at (757) 664-2528 or Desiree Ellison, Coordinator, Leadership Programs at (757) 664-2516 or dellison@hrccva.com.

The AA-HR board has representation from six Asian communities (China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) working collaboratively, finding synergies within nationalities and individual communities, and optimizing each others’ strengths and weaknesses to find opportunities to grow and develop our local community.

In addition to representing the different Asian communities in Hampton Roads, the AA-HR board is also representative of many different types of business and community organizations in addition to its board members geographically located throughout the region. Other board members include some of Hampton Roads’ top Asian business and community leaders.

“We have only just begun to assemble a great board and core members. We are excited to share our vision and purpose, what sets us part, and how we believe we can make a difference,” ­said Dr. Montero II.

Dr. Montero II, a retired general thoracic surgeon from Chesapeake VA, has been recognized throughout his career for his excellence in medicine and volunteerism work.

In 1978, he served as founding president of the Philippine Medical Association of Virginia. In that capacity, he developed a mobile clinic project as the organization’s charitable arm to serve medically needy migrant workers from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Mobile Clinic was used for six years until medical care for the migrant patients became better organized through a government subsidy.

In 1992, he founded the Chesapeake Care Free Clinic to care for the uninsured working poor population in the area. The clinic’s health coverage services have become one of the most comprehensive medical, surgical, and dental treatments in the nation, and all services are offered free of charge. Today over 6000 patient visits are accommodated annually at Chesapeake Care.

Dr. Montero II is currently leading teams of doctors to Third World nations with Physicians for Peace, has founded a new branch of the organization dedicated to the work in the Philippines, and continues to work with the free medical clinic he founded in Chesapeake.

He also serves on the Strategy Committee to provide oversight for Vision Hampton Roads, the first Hampton Roads region-wide comprehensive economic development strategy

For more information about AA-HR, please contact Del Scheitler at 757-477-4661 Del.Scheitler@pilotonline.com or Tim Bradshaw at 757-218-6553 bradshawtc@insercorp.com.

About: Asian Association of Hampton Roads is a non-profit organization founded in 2010 whose mission is to strengthen the Asian communities of Hampton Roads through cultural, economic, and social empowerment. For more information and a complete list of board members, visit www.AA-HR.com. “Strength in Unity – Innovation through Diversity”

On October 2, hundreds of girls from all over southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina will fill the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News for the annual Girl Scout Jamboree. Through programs set up by NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, the Mariners’ Museum, NASA and the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, girls in grades K through 12 will sail away on an adventure of discovery by exploring labs, touching artifacts and reliving personal accounts.

This year, the Girl Scout Jamboree kicks off more than just a new membership year – it celebrates a new era in Girl Scouting.  On July 6, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) released a new brand initiative and marketing campaign, aimed to modernize the 98-year-old organization.

“About one out of every 10 girls participates in Girl Scouting and that’s a tremendous number.  But that also means we have a great opportunity to grow even after almost 100 years. We have literally revamped our entire organization to appeal to that 90 percent of girls who aren’t benefiting from the Girl Scout Leadership Experience,” said Kathy Cloninger, Chief Executive Officer of GSUSA.

GSUSA also released a new campaign that speaks to what Girl Scouts are doing today.  Known by the tagline What Did You Today?, the campaign challenges and empowers girls and the community to think about how they take action each day to not only better themselves but to better their community and the world.

As with so many Girl Scout programs, a community service project will be part of the “take action” piece of the Jamboree.  Girls and their families will be asked to bring with them a canned food item to be donated to local food banks.

“The work our girls do here affects more than just our small communities; it has global reach,” Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast Chief Executive Office Tracy Keller said.  “The new campaign is a great way to show the world what we’ve been doing for 98 years, what we are doing now and what we will be doing in the future.  Taking action.”

The Girl Scout Jamboree is open to non-Girl Scouts and their families.  The program takes place from noon to 4 p.m. on October 2.  For more information visit www.gsccc.org.

About Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast
Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, a United Way Agency, serves over 15,000 girls in grades K through 12 and over 5,000 adult volunteers in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.  Girl Scouts is the leading authority on girls’ healthy development, and builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.  The organization relies on adult volunteers who give their time and talents to make a difference in the lives of the girls.  For more information visit www.gsccc.org or call 1-800-77SCOUT.

The Hampton Roads Chamber is accepting applications through August 20th for business and community leaders to participate in LEAD Hampton Roads (LHR), an Executive Leadership Program, Class of 2011. The Chamber’s leadership seminars represent the diversity of the region and include those who demonstrate leadership and a sincere commitment, motivation and interest in serving the region.

LEAD Hampton Roads has been connecting leaders, organizations, and business to regional opportunities for 23 years. The program brings together forward-thinking leaders from top organizations to address critical business, community and regional challenges, to exchange ideas, to see the region from “behind the scenes” and to interact with experts in leadership strategy and business and personal growth.

“LHR is an essential experience for anyone wanting to understand the complexities of the Hampton Roads Region. You may not want to run for political office when you’re done, but you’ll have a much better handle on the challenges facing our local and state governments, the opportunities for our economy and the enormous talent we have to make our area more prosperous and livable.” —Joel Rubin, LHR Member Pres. & CEO, Rubin Communications Group

LEAD Hampton Roads’ Class of 2010 and guests during their General Assembly visit to Richmond. Read more.

LHR gives existing and emerging leaders a unique opportunity to serve the region with increased effectiveness and to expand their professional networks. LHR participants share a vision of a new and improved Hampton Roads and play an active and crucial role in making that vision a reality. LHR takes an honest look at the social, economic, political and educational needs within the region and provides our leaders with the tools needed to devise real solutions that bring about change and growth.

The LHR experience is an exciting combination of relationship-building, learning, problem-solving, civic engagement and personal growth. During the LHR course, participants will work with business and community leaders from all walks of life, focusing on some of the essential aspects of great leadership and how it applies to our community and our prosperity. The LHR program lasts for nine months, starting with a two-day retreat. Subsequently, the LHR participants meet once a month for full-day sessions involving educational and cultural excursions.

For more information, please contact Desiree Ellison at dellison@hrccva.com, 757-664-2516, or Angela Blackwell Carter at ablackwell@hrccva.com, 757-664-2528, or visit at LEAD Hampton Roads 500 E. Main Street, Suite 700 Norfolk, VA 23510. Find LHR online at www.LeadHamptonRoads.com.

LEAD Hampton Roads, a program of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, is a 501-C3 leadership development program now entering its 23nd year of serving the region. The organization has over 1,200 graduates who actively provide bold leadership to more than 800 regional businesses, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. LEAD Hampton Roads serves the 17 communities that comprise the greater Hampton Roads area.

It’s been a busy hurricane season, and on October 15, Hurricane Nerissa, a Category 2 storm, makes a direct hit on Hampton Roads with the eye of the storm passing over the middle of the resort area of Virginia Beach and progressing through Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg before dissipating on its way towards Washington, DC.  Amazingly, there weren’t any evacuation problems, but the storm did cause flooding in the Midtown Tunnel and Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and the James River Bridge was damaged as well.  Fortunately, regional planners and experts on disaster response and recovery are standing by as well as others from around the country.

This was the scenario the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) walked through with a crowd of 75 people on Wednesday, July 14^th and Thursday, July 15^th at Lockheed Martin’s Center for Innovation in Suffolk, VA.  The hurricane was used as a backdrop to a broader conversation about disaster preparedness and appropriate policies.

Experts from inside and outside the region participated in panel discussions on the roles of governments, nonprofits and private businesses in each stage of the response beginning three days before landfall through 60 days afterward.  Panelists drew upon their experiences with previous disasters to speculate what actions should be taken or what policy changes need to be made to be more effective.

Participants had the opportunity to converse with each other by live blogging on discussion boards while presentations were made.  On the second day, participants separated into four breakout groups to delve into the more troublesome elements of disaster response and recovery in order to make recommendations for changes and highlight best practices.

BCLC  has posted all presentations and blog transcripts on their website: http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/programs/disaster/2010_workshop.htm

In the coming weeks, a detailed report based on the blogs and surveys taken by participants during the workshop will be added.  All of this information will influence future work and recommendations by the BCLC on how communities can better prepare, not just for disaster response, but also the economic recovery that follows.

2010 Disaster Assistance and Recovery Workshop
Hurricane in Hampton Roads: An Analytical Approach to Recovery

Workshop Objectives:

1. Develop a better hand-off mechanism between disaster response and community recovery leaders;
2. Gain a better understanding of the National Disaster Recovery Framework and how each sector can best utilize it after a disaster;
3. Better understand the timeframes needed for recovery actions to take place;
4. Understand who is responsible for doing what to achieve recovery;
5. Apply lessons learned to other disaster situations in the U.S.;
6. Improve communication, coordination, collaboration and mutual understanding among  public, private, and non-governmental sectors; and
7. Determine what successful recovery looks like.

The Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, strengthens collaboration and understanding among businesses, corporate foundations, chambers of commerce, non-governmental organizations (NGO), humanitarian agencies and governmental offices.

by Andrew Sinclair, Program Manager, Hampton Roads Partnership

Stories are received from municipal jurisdictions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, educators, other bloggers and individual citizens. The purpose is to communicate things going on in the Hampton Roads region that we all “need to know,” especially those happening jointly or region-wide, in the categories of Arts & Culture, Business, Economy, Education & Workforce, Government & Citizens, History, Military, Research & Technology (including modeling and simulation, energy and the environment), Transportation (including port and maritime logistics), and Tourism.

SmartRegion.org is the answer to the call from Hampton Roads’ citizens for one regional focus, one reliable source of information (like “Wikipedia”), a portal to connect Hampton Roads’ organizations, citizens and civic leaders and media, traditional and non-traditional. This call was heard from the Batten Surveys: A Regional Civic Capital Assessment produced by the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement.

SmartRegion.org was specifically named as such to reinforce the concept of a “regional” blog. No one organization (see “Bookmarks” in left-hand column) has more prominence on the site than any other. Articles are attributed to the appropriate author or source. The region collaborates to make this a strong, united, regional effort by sharing timely news, features and event announcements with the citizens of Hampton Roads.

SmartRegion.org serves as that one “all-things-Hampton Roads” website by  focusing on all aspects of regional collaboration and action. It provides links to important regional organizations an major economy- and political-focused bloggers in Hampton Roads. Think of it as “democratization of information and communication.”

Hampton Roads’ SmartRegion.org was one of only 24 nationwide blogs selected in early 2009 for a local-national online collaboration with the PBS NewsHour’s Patchwork Nation project as they looked for “citizen journalists” who focus on regional economies as well as those who can share a regional perspective of national issues. Read more at http://bit.ly/SmartRegion.

Why does this collaborative outreach matter to Hampton Roads?

Communities that grow and prosper together plan and implement together. Hampton Roads cannot have a vision for the future without including everyone, from decision-makers to voters and taxpayers. Inclusion requires understanding. Inclusion requires conversation. Collaborative communication efforts offer the region a way for everyone to be engaged. Engaged citizens make for better understanding, better democracy and better solutions. And, a better quality of life for us all.

Participation in SmartRegion.org is easy as 1-2-3 ! Contact us.

Save the Hampton Roads Film Office

The Cheroenhaka (pronounced CHAIR-IN-HOCK-AH), or “People at the Fork of the Stream,” will celebrate the Commonwealth of Virginia’s formal recognition as a tribe and 430 years of documented ethno-history with traditional dancing, foods, artifacts, arts and crafts and more in a family-friendly atmosphere. Master of ceremonies will be Jerome “Good Eagle” Kays.

The Fairgrounds are located 1.5 miles South on New Market Road off Highway 58 in Courtland, Virginia. For more information, contact Powwow Chairman, Vice Chief Ellis “Soaring Eagle” Wright at (434) 658-4796 or Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown at (757) 562-7760 or wdbrowniii@aol.com.

The Cheroenhaka Tribal Website: http://www.cheroenhaka-nottoway.org

Members of the Cheroenhaka, recognized tribe of Virginia, with Regional Crier at Vision Hampton Roads Regional Day. Photo courtesy of Bob Harper.

Payscale rankings were based on median annual salary and salary growth percentage for college graduates between 2007 and 2010. In Hampton Roads, the median income was at $51,900 with 14% growth in the last three years. An article on Yahoo!Hotjobs cited “military bases are a major employer here, with well-paid jobs for officers, pilots, nuclear engineers, and intelligence analysts” in the ranking.

Best markets for salary growth:

1. Honolulu, Hawaii ($55,800, +15%)
2. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J. ($58,700, +15%)
3. El Paso, Texas ($49,000, +14%)
4. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. ($73,800, +14%)
5. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. ($51,900, +14%)

Worst markets for salary growth:

1. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa. ($49,900, -4%)
2. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash. ($57,100, -1%)
3. Springfield, Mass. ($49,700, -1%)
4. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. ($44,200, -1%)
5. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. ($59,500, -1%)

Average per capita personal income overall is estimated at $39,066 according to the U. S. Dept. of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, close to the national average of $39,560.

NeighborhoodScout’s survey of more than 350 metro areas in the U.S. identified the top 10 large areas with the best job growth and lowest rates of unemployment. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, NeighborhoodScout included Hampton Roads among the true bright spots in America for those freshly trained and seeking to start a career or for established workers interested in relocating.

NeighborhoodScout, using its patented search engine, also revealed the best neighborhood in each for both young, single professionals starting a career and for families wishing (or needing) to relocate. “Both career starters and families want to go where the jobs are. Whether they are relocating out of desire or necessity, finding a good area to live is very important. This is important for recent graduates who may be leaving behind a close-knit group of friends from college, and, perhaps even more importantly, for families with school-aged children who are leaving behind a deep support network, known schools, and more,” said Andrew Schiller, the creator of NeighborhoodScout.

To identify the best neighborhoods for career starters, NeighborhoodScout searched for predominantly non-married households (singles), that had a large population of people in their 20s and 30s, with college educations or even graduate degrees, where the housing is mainly rental apartments, and where many people are in professional occupations.

To uncover top neighborhoods for relocating families, NeighborhoodScout searched for neighborhoods with a unique combination of top quality schools, safety from crime, a large number of families with children, high rates of home ownership, high rates of college graduation among adults, and a high percentage of single family homes, all at comparatively affordable prices for each respective metro area.

Here are America’s top 10 large metro areas for low unemployment based on June 2010 data:

1. (TIE) Metro Area: Oklahoma City, Okla. (Unemployment Rate: 5.9%)
2. (TIE) Metro Area: Washington, D.C. (Unemployment Rate: 5.9%)
3. Metro Area: New Orleans, La. (Unemployment Rate: 6.1%)
4. Metro Area: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.-Wis. (Unemployment Rate: 6.8%)
5. Metro Area: Austin, Texas (Unemployment Rate: 7.0%)
6. Metro Area: Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va. (Unemployment Rate: 7.1%)
   Best Neighborhood for Young & Single: (Mowbray Arch / Fairfax Ave. in Norfolk)
   Best Neighborhood for Families:(Kempsville Rd. / Centerville Tpke. in Virginia Beach)
7. Metro Area: Baltimore, Md. (Unemployment Rate: 7.2%)
8. Metro Area: San Antonio, Texas (Unemployment Rate: 7.3%)
9. (TIE) Metro Area: Richmond, Va. (Unemployment Rate: 7.5%)
10. (TIE) Metro Area: Rochester, N.Y. (Unemployment Rate: 7.5%)