RICHMOND, Va. – Minor league players spend most of their careers with one goal in mind, to make it to the major leagues. In some cases, these players need to get over certain weaknesses and take advantage of certain opportunities in order to reach that goal.

The state of Virginia has been fighting those same struggles as many minor league players face as it has yet been able to acquire a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. There are currently seven minor league baseball teams in the state of Virginia but there are no MLB teams even though they’ve had their two chances in the last 10 years.

Out of the 394 metro areas in America the Virginia Beach metro area is the second largest area without a pro-level sports franchise according to 2008 metro area population data obtained from the census bureau. Richmond, Va. isn’t far behind as it is the fifth largest metro area without one.

Click here to see largest metro areas in country without a pro-level sports franchise.

Virginia is the largest state without pro-level sports franchise and the only state with a population over 5 million without one.

Click here for the sights and sounds at Harbor Park, the home of the Norfolk Tides

Click here to see largest states in the country without a pro-level sports franchise.

Virginia has had ten-year history with trying to acquire a MLB franchise that dates back to 1999. Three issues that have continued to plague them to this day is that they have population and transportation issues, a lack of cooperation between private ownership groups and government officials, and they don’t have a stadium that could house a MLB team. There are also many small reasons why Virginia has been a state that’s been unable to reach the majors.

Strike One: Population and Transportation

Many say that the best place in Virginia to host a major league sports franchise is in the Tidewater area which has an estimated population of over 1.6 million people. However for that to happen one of the major problems that they have to deal with is its diverse population.

Ben Giancola, Assistant General Manager of the Triple A Baseball Norfolk Tides, said that “Population wise the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area looks good on paper. One of the big stumbling blocks for this area is that there isn’t one major city its seven cities (referring to the Hampton Roads area) so they don’t work together very well.”

Giancola also said “The other problem is that so much of your population is divided up by water that when you look at the population base of this area it’s not easy for those fans to get through the bridge tunnels to get to a major league game. So once you start segmenting your population it doesn’t work very well, the numbers don’t make a lot of sense.”

One thing that could solve this problem is a reliable transportation system that could get sports fans to a centralized location. However this is something that the Tidewater area is currently lacking.

Mike Watkins, Director of Corporate Sponsorship and Promotions at the Norfolk Tides, said “We (Norfolk Tides) just had a game last on July 2nd where the traffic had a direct effect on our attendance. If the traffic can affect the attendance for a minor league team then for a major league team we would be in a world of trouble.”

Click here to listen to Mike Watkins talk about other reasons why a Major League Baseball franchise wouldn’t work here.

The city of Norfolk seems to understand this and in December of 2007 decided to build a transit system that would help with this problem. John Rhamstine, Director of Cultural Facilities, Arts and Entertainment for the city of Norfolk, believes that this could make the area a more attractive place to host a major league sports franchise.

Rhamstine said “Norfolk is building the first leg of a light rail system and when that rail system expands into the Hampton Roads area, the ability to move people downtown effectively will help make the case for a major league franchise to locate here.”

Strike Two: Governmental and Private Ownership Relations

In 2004, business groups from Norfolk (Norfolk Baseball Club LLC) and Northern Virginia (Virginia Baseball Club LLC) were part of the race to get the MLB’s Montreal Expos. Both groups were trying to put together funds to build a Major League Baseball stadium in either Norfolk, Va. or Loudon County, Va. Both groups also had similar needs which were that the stadium projects both required either state or local government funding.

USA Today reported in 2004 that Northern Virginia was clearly the best place to host the team considering the facts that the MLB wanted a team in the Washington DC metro area, and the Baltimore Orioles wanted the team to be a safe distance away from their stadium so that there wouldn’t be competition for fans. So what happened? Even though the MLB liked Northern Virginia’s financial plan, it didn’t sit well with the governor, Mark Warner, so the deal fell through.

Click here for a timeline on how Virginia lost out on the opportunity to acquire an MLB franchise.

When asked why the state government couldn’t agree to the terms of Virginia Baseball Club’s financial plan, Mike Schewel, Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce and Trade during the Warner administration, said “The state was never convinced that the proposed economic benefits to the state were worth what the state would have to put up in terms of essentially direct cash and this guarantee obligation. One of the issues is that baseball has strikes every three or four years. The financial plan was based on ticket sales, parking fees, and sales tax. If they go on strike then all of that stops. If that stops then the bonds still have to be paid. That’s when we thought that the guarantee would be called. There is a two decade long history of regular strikes in baseball. We could never get over that issue.”

Jerry Burkot, spokesperson for the Northern Virginia financial group, said in a 2004 Washington Post article that “the unwillingness of Warner to back a long-standing ballpark financing plan soured Major League Baseball officials on Virginia’s bid.”

Burkot added in the same article that “Baseball wanted to see the governor out front on this issue. Had the governor said ‘yes’ . . . we as a partnership believe baseball would have accepted Virginia’s bid.”

In response, Schewel said that it is unfair to blame the state for the reason why they couldn’t secure the Montreal Expos in 2004. Schewel said “Why should the state government pay one dime for what is essentially a private enterprise? What should the state have to support that? We don’t supply money to anyone else around who want to start a private enterprise. The rationale for doing that was that it would provide an economic benefit to the state that will more than pay for what we put up. We never really believed that would happen. The risks were substantially greater than what they indicate. The state didn’t have an obligation to do anything.”

William L. Collins, leader of the Northern Virginia financial group trying to secure the team, said in a 2004 Washington Post article that “Virginia has lost the most significant economic opportunity in a decade.”

When asked why the stated didn’t support Norfolk’s proposal Schewel said that Norfolk never formally asked the state for their support. Schewel also said that Norfolk’s plan wasn’t as sound when compared with the plan of Northern Virginia’s group. Others add that the Tidewater area couldn’t come together since it is not one large city but seven cities made up of several different governments.

Strike Three: Lack of Stadium

What seems to be the most important reason why Virginia doesn’t have a Major League Baseball franchise is the fact that they don’t have a stadium and do not have plans to build one. The major issue that prevented the Northern Virginia financial group and the state government from agreeing on a deal was who would fund creation for a stadium up to the MLB’s standards. One of the reasons why Washington DC won the bid for the Montreal Expos in 2004 was that they had a temporary stadium for them to play in and that they would build and new stadium in the future. The only thing the Norfolk group could offer was to have the team, if acquired, play temporarily in a minor league stadium until they built a new one.

Other states have been in a similar predicament but have taken a different route to acquire a pro-level sports franchise. One of those states was Oklahoma. Before 2007 the state of Oklahoma didn’t have a pro-level sports franchise and, compared to Virginia, had a smaller state population. However, the Oklahoma City metro area’s population was similar to both the Richmond, Va. and the Tidewater metro areas.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett decided that they should build a stadium with hopes of securing one and when the opportunity came they seized it and in 2008 secured the only pro-level sports franchise the state has, NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

Click here to listen to Oklahoma City Mayor, Mick Cornett talk about his role in acquiring the state of Oklahoma’s first pro-level sports franchise

Cornett said that the first step that a state or local government must take to secure a pro-level sports franchise is to build a stadium that is up to the standards of the professional leagues you are trying to attract. Cornett said “If you follow the model that is what is happening in cities like Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, or other places. They went ahead and built an arena to the specifications of the leagues and tried to fill them with other events until they could secure a sports franchise.”

Cornett added that “I think if you don’t have a venue and you’re trying to convince a league that they should relocate to your city but then you have to build an arena I think that you are creating too many obstacles for yourself. If we had not had an arena then we would have not had a franchise.”

However, Cornett said didn’t think that it was impossible to do it another way. Cornett said, “I’m not saying that it is impossible to do it any other ways but if you are an unproven market which Oklahoma City was and which most of the Virginia market is I don’t know how you convince a sports league to put a franchise in your city if you don’t have a venue. Because it’s very difficult to get a sports venue today that will be backed by public funding which most venues require today.”

The lack of adequate sports facilities has been something that has been a problem in Virginia’s two largest metro areas to this day. Richmond, Virginia lost its Triple A baseball team in 2007 due to Richmond city officials not being able to agree on building a new stadium to host the team in time.

Click here to listen to ESPN 950 Richmond radio personality, Greg Burton, talk summarize the reason why the Richmond Braves left Richmond.

ESPN 950 Richmond radio personality Greg Burton said, “This has happened in cities all across the country. One city drags their feet on a new city because of all of the questions that surround building new sports facility and while that city is being indecisive another city seizes the opportunity and says we’ll get it done.”

Now Richmond is without a minor league baseball team for the first time in fifty years and is the second largest city in the country without affiliated baseball. This has also left the state with only one Triple A Baseball team, the Norfolk Tides, who has remained successful through a number of years without disputes over a new stadium.

Click on the video to learn about the keys to success for Virginia’s highest level baseball franchise, the Norfolk Tides

The Window of Opportunity May Be Closed for the Moment
Currently it doesn’t seem that Virginia is ready to move up to the majors yet. Mike Schewel, Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce and Trade in 2004, said “that he doesn’t think that sports are a priority for the state right now.” Michael Young, Press Secretary for Governor Tim Kaine, confirmed that idea saying that he was told by the current Secretary of Trade and Commerce that “recruiting a sports franchise is not a priority” and that they haven’t currently tried to do anything to try to secure one.

Schewel thinks that the reason for this is that “State government is struggling at the moment and it seems that it would be hard for the foreseeable future for the state to say instead of building the new business school at this college or instead of lowering tuition we’re going to spend money on a Major League stadium for a private company so that they can afford to do it and make more money off of it. It just seems to me that under the current circumstances that’s unlikely unless someone could make a very powerful case why the state was going to make a lot of money of doing that and nobody has yet made that case.”

Click here for a widget to see the top stories in Major League Baseball, which is updated daily by ESPN.com

by Kara Glascoe
MASC 688

RICHMOND, Va. — As a state built in part on tobacco farming and industry, Virginia has resisted legislation restricting smoking, until now. On December 1, a new law will take effect, limiting indoor smoking at restaurants to walled rooms with separate ventilation.  

 Virginia senator Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, a pediatric neurologist, said he sponsored the legislation as part of his duty to protect citizens.

“About a thousand Virginians, each year, die from secondhand smoke,” said Northam. “So, that’s about three funerals a day in Virginia, because of secondhand smoke, and about $125 million dollars of healthcare expenditures in Virginia are because of secondhand smoke.”

“I had always been of the premise that the less government in our lives the better, but also as a government we have the obligation of protecting our people.” he said.

“And so with those facts,” Northam explained, “I think it’s reasonable to say we should stop smoking in restaurants for the protection, again, of our employees and our patrons.”

Unfortunately, despite the effort, the exceptions made in the law could have the effect of protecting the business owner rather than preventing harm – as it creates no duty to protect patrons and employees from the secondhand smoke that persists when individuals smoke indoors, even in a walled room with separate ventilation.

Virginia's partial smoking ban will take effect December 1, 2009. Click here for video of Sen. Ralph Northam as he discusses the need for the ban and why Virginia must work to reduce secondhand smoke. Gary Hagy offers information sources for business owners likely to be impacted by the ban.

 

Click here for recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on tobacco use and health.

 

Building a Smoking Ban Worthy of Tobacco Country

“There’s been a tremendous amount of influence in our commonwealth from the Tobacco industry,” Northam said.
“So, it was a big hurdle to overcome.”

“There was a lot of educating to be done,” he said. “A lot of advocacy organizations participated.”

 Northam said he felt, as a physician, he was the “right person” to introduce the legislation.

“My name was on the bill, but it was a team effort,” he said, noting that organizations like the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Heart Association worked to educate other legislators on the need for this law. 
 

Click the above photo to hear Jeff Hallam voice his concerns about the effect the smoking law will have on Richmond's economy.

“As a physician I understand the ill effects of secondhand, as well as, primary cigarette smoke,” said Northam.

“We know that it leads to higher incidences of cancer, especially lung cancer, diseases such as emphysema, and other things that we see in pediatrics such as: asthma, allergies, bronchitis, pneumonia.”

Northam said, even limited exposure to secondhand smoke could cause or perpetuate incidences of illness like asthmatic attacks and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (S.I.D.S.).

“So the facts are there that cigarette smoke is damaging to our health,” he said “We also know that secondhand smoke is actually more dangerous to our health than smoking a cigarette.”

When it came to negotiating the terms of the bill, Northam said the final law had to contain two things as far as he was concerned. The first, Northam said, was the stipulation that non-smoking areas would never be used for smoking.

“One of the biggest issues was whether the restaurant could be used, for example, after nine o’clock – for parties for smoking,” Northam said.

“One of the things we had to stress and educate the other legislators [on] was that smoke residue gets on the curtains, carpet those type of things. So, we wanted to make the restaurant strictly, or those particular rooms strictly, non-smoking,” he said.

Northam said it was also important to him that employees not feel compelled to work in environments that expose them to secondhand smoke.

“One of the things in the bill stipulates that an employee is able to go to their employer and say they don’t want to be exposed to smoke, and there can be no repercussions from that,” Northam said.

“It was really important to have that in the bill.”

 “The Facts Are There” – On Separately Ventilated Smoking Rooms

 With such collaboration between legislators and advocacy groups, one would think the ban does what it sets out to do – provide protection from secondhand smoke.

However, reports from various sources – like the Office of the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s Office on Smoking and Health, and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) – make the anticipated accomplishments of this law a bit hazy.

A 2006 report of the Surgeon General – “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke” – studied the ways and places that secondhand smoke harms Americans.

In his “Executive Summary” on the report, then Surgeon General Richard Carmona stated,“Total bans on indoor smoking in hospitals, restaurants, bars, and offices substantially reduce secondhand smoke exposure, up to several orders of magnitude with incomplete compliance, and with full compliance, exposures are eliminated.”

His findings also stated, “Exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke cannot be controlled by air cleaning or mechanical air exchange.”

It would appear that by providing an exception for business owners, the smoking room exception weakens the smoking ban.

Based in part on the Surgeon General’s report, the Office on Smoking and Health for the Centers for Disease Control, released a fact sheet, still available on their website. That fact sheet, which also includes information from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, also reports that having a separately enclosed area does not offer the protection from secondhand smoke needed.

According to the fact sheet, “The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the preeminent U.S. standard-setting body on ventilation issues, has concluded that ventilation systems cannot remove secondhand smoke from indoor environments.”

The fact sheet goes on to state that, “Even separately enclosed, separately exhausted, negative-pressure smoking rooms cannot keep secondhand smoke from spilling into adjacent areas.”

“In practice, employees are often required to enter such rooms in order to perform their job duties. Employees and patrons in such rooms are likely to be exposed to especially high levels of secondhand smoke.”

Joel London, Health Communication Specialist for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said that with these findings Virginia’s law cannot be considered a comprehensive ban.

“There’s a variety of restrictions across the country and there are states that have separately ventilated smoking rooms, and they don’t fall into the category of comprehensive bans or comprehensive laws,” London said.

The Surgeon General’s report provided “clear findings” that indoor ventilation systems lack secondhand smoke protection London said.

Others, like ANR, have insisted for years that ventilation systems are a “hoax” and a “lie” from tobacco lobbyists meant to distort the issue.

ANR associate director, Bronson Frick said, “The only way to protect non-smokers is through a smoke free environment.”

“As far as the smoking room,” he said, “smoking rooms simply give the appearance of solving the problem without actually protecting anyone else.”

Frick also said, in terms of recently enacted legislation, Virginia’s law is “the weakest in the United States.”

In contrast, Frick said legislation like that from North Carolina banning smoking in places that employ or serve minors is much stronger.

The CDC tracks legislation across the nation on smoking legislation as part of the State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System.  The latest information from the STATE system reports that 19 states have comprehensive smoking bans – in which no smoking is allowed inside restaurants and/or bars.

Click here to view data on state smoking restrictions from the State Tobacco Activities and Tracking Evaluation System, provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 The STATE system also provides trends in the state legislation, such as: noting the extent of the restriction – whether the ban on smoking is comprehensive or limited to specific areas penalties for violation – and penalties for violation.
 
In comparison to states with similar smoking restrictions, like California, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, Virginia has a much lower maximum penalty to businesses that violate the law. Ohio, which now has a comprehensive smoking ban, places no maximum penalty in its law. Additionally, of all the aforementioned states, Virginia is the only one with an exception to the law for businesses under a certain capacity – 50 seats.
 

To hear how Virginia’s law measures up, click here, and listen as Joel London, Health Communication Specialist for CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, gives the most current snapshot of the CDC’s records on smoking related state legislation.

 The Partial Ban Beats No Ban At All…Right?

Frick said having no ban at all puts other states in a better position than Virginia.

“There are some states with no state law and that’s in some ways better,” Frick said, since those states don’t have to overcome the false security of contained smoke or cost of installing smoke rooms with separate ventilation.

“Ventilation systems or other tricks simply don’t provide the health protection,” said Frick.

 “They may reduce smell, but not health risks.”

For Northam, Virginia’s law is a compromise he said he was “pleased” both sides were able to come together to enact. Again, he said, his main concern in supporting this legislation was the health of patrons and employees.

“One of the tings I think restaurant owners have been leery of is that their restaurants will lose business,” said Northam.

“The concern has been that a great majority of their clients enjoy a cigarette with their meal – and I understand that – but, again, I don’t feel as badly for those patrons, but in that case I feel very badly for the people that have to work in there.”

“For example in a college town such as Norfolk,” Northam said, “there are college students trying to put themselves through college…and for them to have to go into a restaurant and breathe that day in and day out it’s not in their best interest.”

“So, I worry about their businesses,” Northam said, “I do, but I think we’ve put some room in the bill that if they want to have a room that has a separate ventilation system that they can do that.”

Click here to see a photo slideshow on how a restaurant with tobacco as part of its concept will have to cope with the new law.

“In contrast, Frick’s concern for those employees stems, in part, from the room with separate ventilation.

“The only way a smoke room could be effective is if …you go through an air lock, like labs that research infectious disease,” said Frick

“This is a worker health issue, so having people in the room,” he said, “whether they’re serving drinks or cleaning it, it’s a health hazard.”

In the Event of Secondhand Smoke Injury, No Fresh Way To Cope Exists.

In addition to a lack of protection through separate ventilation, employees and patrons may have little legal recourse in the event of secondhand smoke-induced ailments that occur in a business with the legal “smoking room”.

A personal injury attorney with Allen and Allen, J. David Douthit said he does not see the legislation as a catalyst for personal injury claims.

 Click here for a general explanation of the legal recourse an employee might have in response to secondhand smoke exposure. Personal injury attorney, J. David Douthit, discusses his take on the possibilities of such,  following the ban’s effective date.

Douthit said, “As a practical matter, I would think complying with the requirements of the smoking ban as far as providing a structurally separate smoking area would probably insulate an owner from tort liability.”

“As far as I know, the only duty imposed on a [restaurant] owner to provide a smoke-free environment is the one contained in the smoking ban itself,” Douthit stated.

According to Douthit, even the Surgeon General’s warning would not give rise to a business owner being liable for damages caused by disregard for known secondhand smoke risks.

Douthit said the Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity would likely protect it from any suits for negligently providing a “safe harbor for structurally separate smoking areas.”

“Even if an injured person could show causation and injury,” stated Douthit, “an owner who complied with the terms of the ban has likely not breached any duty.”

Is Smoke Free In Virginia’s Future?

Finally, the law’s current provision for a separately ventilated smoking room might even hamper the Commonwealth’s ability to go smoke free in the future.

Eventually going smoke free is something Northam has “hopes” for.

“I really think that what’ll happen over the next few years is that restaurants will realize that their business increases with no smoking, and that the patios and the separate rooms will go away” said Northam.

“Things happen one step at a time, but I think that [going smoke free] will happen in the future.”

Click here to listen to restaurant owner, Mehmet Akpinar discuss how and why he decided to go smoke-free long before Virginia’s smoking ban.

Frick has a less optimistic view. Frick said the goal of laws with an exception, like Virginia’s law, is to “institutionalize indoor smoking”.

 “Once a room is built,” said Frick, “and a business owner spends thousands of dollars on a smoking room – they are less likely to go smoke free on their own.”

Click here to view a photo slideshow about how one Richmond business decided to go smoke-free before the ban.

In measuring Virginia’s law, Frick said, while the Commonwealth has come a long way it still does not have a law that effectively decreases secondhand smoke exposure. Secondhand smoke is so toxic and its particles so small, Frick said, reducing 90% of the smoke does not reduce 90% of the risks associated with secondhand smoke.

 “From an industry perspective, this is a big victory for tobacco companies,” said Frick

RICHMOND, Va. – Twenty six-year-old Sabrina Mercado lost her New York marketing job in January to the effects of the challenging economy. When faced with the decision of what to do next, she packed her bags and moved to Richmond, Virginia.

“I think it’s amazing how Richmond is a city, but it has such a small-town feel,” said Mercado. “This is the perfect place to raise a family. But then for the younger side of me, there are so many professionals here as well.”

Mercado is originally from Puerto Rico, and after coming to Richmond for a brief visit last year, she says she was anxious to return.

Many young professionals, like Mercado, are relocating to areas that offer better employment opportunities, more affordable living costs and age-specific networking groups. In recent years Richmond has become a more popular option for the millennial generation.

Next Generation Consulting is Wisconsin based research firm that works with cities and companies to better engage the next generation, 20 to 40 year olds. NGC also monitors which areas best cater to the needs of local professionals.

While the company did release a ‘Hot Jobs Cool Communities’ list in 2001, this is the first year the company has released their first annual “Next Cities” list, ranking Richmond as one of the top 20 cities for young professionals to work and live in the United States.

Local young professional organizations host networking events at various Richmond venues. Click on the photo for an audio slide show about HYPE, one of Richmond leading young professional organizations.

Lead Consultant at NGC Peter Moorehouse says that Richmond made the list, which was released in June, after being compared to all 330 U.S cities with a population of 100,000 or more. The list was broken into three separate divisions based on size and population. Richmond was listed in the “might micros” category, among cities containing populations between 100,000 to 200,000.

“Being added to the list is recognition that [Richmond] has the amenities and is very well positioned to be a magnet for the next generation,” Moorehouse said.

The recession has caused many cities and companies to divert their focus from attracting new and qualified talent to conserving the talent they. While the economic circumstances companies are facing are temporary, Moorehouse says the impending generational issues will have a more long-term effect.

“In the next 5 to 15 years we’re going to have a whole bunch of baby boomers who are going to be exiting the workforce leaving a lot of holes where they were,” Moorehouse said. “So every city’s companies need to be concerned about their retirement and every city needs to be concerned about what they’re doing to attract and retain the talented workforce their company will need.”

Richmond’s Effort Attract and Retain Young Professionals

The Greater Richmond Partnership exists to help grow the area’s economy by attracting new businesses to the region and helping to retain and expand existing businesses. Vice President of Existing Business Services Sara Dunnigan says their current focus has shifted to make sure that local talent stay connected to the Richmond area.

“Young people make such an important contribution, so it’s important that we keep them engaged. Secondly they’re the leaders of the future,” Dunnigan said. “If these people pick up and go somewhere else, we’re left with this huge donut hole.”

Some Richmoders lament the recent loss of major companies, such as Circuit City and LandAmerica, who both had robust internship programs. However, Dunnigan says that there are a large number of dynamic small to mid-sized companies that value the new ideas young professionals bring into the business place.

“We’ve got a combination in Richmond of very long-standing more traditional businesses, but then we’ve also got this swell of, what I would call,  high-potential companies that recognize that bringing in new thought is going to be really important to their long-term success,” Dunnigan said.

Click here to hear about The Greater Richmond Partnership’s new initiative to retain Richmond’s talented workforce.

Next Generation Consulting evaluates every city’s preparedness for the next generation on seven different indexes. The categories include earning, learning, vitality, around town, after hours, cost of lifestyle, and social capital. NGC researchers then collect quantitative data from each city to develop an index rating.

Richmond scored the highest in the learning index, which looks at the number of post- secondary institutions, libraries, as well as the money spent on public education.  It scored the lowest in the “after hours” index, looking at cultural amenities and entertainment venues, in comparison to other “Next Cities.”

Dana Bolfing, 25, is a local sales executive who moved to Richmond, after graduating from James Madison University. Bolfing currently works with Park Group, a local production company. While she had only intended to stay for a year, she has now been here for three years.

“It definitely sucks you in. It’s a nice blend for the young professional in terms of night life, restaurants, and shopping,” Bolfing said. “It’s also a nice hub, because it’s close to the beach and to D.C., which are good places to visit on weekends.”

After relocating from Charlottesville, Virginia, Bolfing says Richmond offered a diverse atmosphere and more activities than she had been used to.

Over the past few years Richmond has made an effort to cater to the young adult population, by organizing young professional organizations, such as HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage) which offers young adults a resource for professional development and networking opportunities.  

“We’re making a concerted effort to attract new young talent to Richmond and to also keep the young talent that we have here,” said Corey Humphrey, Small Business Program Manager for the Greater Richmond Chamber.

Humphrey, 25, is a Richmond native who says that in recent years Richmond has become a thriving place for young professionals. HYPE was launched in 2007 through the Chamber with the goal of showcasing the Richmond region and catering to young people.

HYPE was started under the recommendation of Jim Crupi, a research consultant, commissioned by the Chamber. According to his report, Crupi was asked to conduct a study of Richmond in the early 90’s and was rehired in 2007 to re-examine the metro area and make recommendations that would enhance [Richmond’s] future and competitive position.”

“One of the major things that he identified is that this region needed a young professional group that makes an effort to say to young professionals that we want you here and that we value your contributions to our community,” Humphrey said.

Click here to learn more about why Humphrey says Richmond is a great place to live.

While HYPE is nearly two and a half years old, it has a team of 25 volunteers that help oversee the organization. It offers young professionals educational seminars and social networking events around the city and is highly respected by local businesses.

“HYPE has done a great job of creating some opportunities for young professionals to be a part of Richmond’s future and I think they’ve brought a legitimacy to those voices and their opinions,” said Dunnigan of The Greater Richmond Partnership.

After relocating from New York to Richmond, Mercado landed a position with a supplemental U.S insurance provider. She heard about HYPE from her manager and has recently gotten involved to begin networking to meeting other young professionals in the area.

“If you’re into HYPE it’s because you want to do something. Everybody’s your age and they have that ambition. They’re hungry to be successful,” Mercado said. “And if you surround yourself with successful people, you will be successful.

HYPE is one of many young professional organizations forming around the country in an effort to prevent the “brain drain” concept of loosing qualified people to other markets.

In addition to catering to local professionals who are present, Richmond has also initiated a program to attract and retain talented young professionals to the region. YRichmond was started in 2007  to showcase the Richmond region to potential hires.

Watch the video below to learn about Richmond’s intern recruitment program, YRichmond.

The National Young Professional Movement

The Young Professionals Organizations of America (YPOA), headquartered in Portland Ore. was established in 2006 after the success of its first chapter, the Young Professionals Organization of Portland, (YPOP) which began in 2004.

Executive Director of the YPOA, Jason Trombley, 25, says that the YPOA serves as a resource to help others young professionals organize chapters around the country that will follow the same pattern of YPOP.

“There are three arms to the organization, one is a social aspect, another is community service, and then educational development,  providing an array of opportunities to become more informed and get a sense of where their community is going and  how they can best make an impact early on to really make a long-term impact,” said Trombley.

Since the YPOA began, it currently represents seven chapters and is looking to open another three to four by the end of 2009.

HYPE often looks to other organizations around the country to improve or gain insight. Humphrey says one of the organizations he often benchmarks against is MAGNET, one of the country’s leading young professional organizations, based out of Madison, Wis.

Next Generation Consulting ranked Madison, Wisconsin as the number one “Next City” in the “midsized magnets” category for cities with populations of 200,000 to 500,000.  Magnet Executive Director Molly Lahr says that she receives a resume a week from young professionals looking to move to the Madison area.

“Madison is a beautiful community that has plenty of different activities from the arts and cultural activities to sporting activities and festivals,” Lahr said. “The quality of life in the area is superb”

Lahr also mentioned that some young professionals accept jobs with a lower pay grades just for the opportunity to live in the Madison area. Magnet was founded in 2004, with a similar mission to HYPE’s of attracting and retaining young talent to their region.

“Structurally, Magnet is not under the Chamber of Commerce,” Lahr said. Because they are a separate entity, she says Magnet is able to make its own organizational decisions which she contributes to their success.

 The annual membership fee to join is $35.00, which pays for all MAGNET events. In contrast, HYPE is not a member organization and all events are open to the public. Attendees pay for each event separately. 

While location plays a major part for most young professionals when seeking job opportunities, others are more concerned about seizing a great opportunity than location or destination loyalty, like 22-year-old Kadero Watson of Richmond, Virginia.

Watson recently graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. with a degree in Business Administration.

“For me personally, [Richmond] wasn’t a great area just because of what I wanted to go into,” Watson said. “For my profession, it’s just not the place to be.”

The newlywed-Watson moved to Norman, Okla. at the end of June, leaving his immediate family behind in Richmond, for a graduate Assistant position in the Athletic Department at the University of Oklahoma. Watson says his long-term goal is to be an Athletic Director in professional sports.

 Since Richmond presently has no big conference schools and no professional teams, Watson says that he didn’t search for any jobs locally.

“I actually looked for the job first and then thought about the city,” Watson said, after receiving two job offers initially, one in New York City and the other in Oklahoma.

 “I chose Oklahoma because, I was able to continue my education while working and my living expenses were a lot cheaper which helps with me just coming out of college,” Watson said.

Don’t know what city is Best for you? Click here and take a quiz to discover the best “spot” for you to live. 

While Richmond can’t possibly appeal to every young professional, they have made an increased effort in recent years to cater to the young professional community. Humphrey, who runs Hype on behalf of the Chamber, says the city has greatly improved over the years and has become more welcoming to young professional community.

“The businesses and the people in this community seem to understand now that we are competing for talent with every other city in the country,” said Humphrey.

Click here to learn hear from Julie Bondy, the Director YRichmond, an intern retention program designed to showcase the Richmond region to potential hires.

In July 2009, The Society for Human Resource Management released its  annual  list of the 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America. See the maps below for locations and information on this years’ winners.

25 Best Small Companies to Work For
View 25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America in a larger map

25 Best Medium Companies to Work For
View 25 Best Medium Companies to Work For in America in a larger map

RICHMOND, Va.–Bicycling is one of America’s oldest activities, but still remains first in popularity.

In 2000, 42.5 million Americans participated in bicycling according to the National Sporting Goods Association. This was more than the next leading activity, which was basketball at 29.4 million participants.

Bicycling has obvious benefits including helping the environment and improving health. Bicycles currently displace more than 238 million gallons of gasoline per year with the replacement of car trips with bike trips. More reliance on cars by Americans has contributed to a less active society. According to Health Affairs, a health policy journal, in 2003, obesity-related medical care spending accounted for 11.6 percent of all private health care spending. The League of American Bicyclists, a bicycle advocacy group based in Washington, suggests that obesity rates will decline with the increased promotion of bicycling.

Dick Elder Audio

Dick Elder is a member of the board of directors for BikeWalk Virginia. BikeWalk Virginia is a bicycle advocacy group in Richmond, Va. He talks about the importance of the Bike Virginia Event that took place in Charlottesville, Va. in June.

Click here to watch a video about the Bike Virginia event, which was presented by the bike advocacy group BikeWalk Virginia in June.

Two major programs promoting bicycling are the Safe Routes to School Program and the Non-Motorized Transportation Projects. The Safe Routes to School Program was established in May 2006. The Non-Motorized Transportation Projects were authorized in 2005 by Congress in the transportation bill.

Sheryl Finucane, Virginia Bicycle Federation board member said these programs are vital to reversing current trends.

“The U.S. has created a motorized only culture, that needs to be reversed for many reasons, but there are several non-motorized transportation programs that are essential steps in reversing this non-sustainable culture,” said Sheryl Finucane in an e-mail interview.

The VBF has board members designated to seven regions in Virginia, with headquarters located in Arlington, Va.

Finucane thinks the initial push for alternative modes of transportation projects across the nation is positive so far, but should not end.

“There needs to be more funding for projects, such as transportation enhancements, school programs encouraging bicycling and other funding that creates infrastructure,” said Finucane.

Champe Burnley Audio

Champe Burnley is the president of the Richmond Area Bicycling Association. He talks about a particular program in Virginia called Rails with Trails that is working to improve railroads and how there is a push to improve bike trails in Virginia under this program.

Click here for some bicycle statistics.

Safe Routes to School Program

The Safe Routes to School Program is set up to encourage bicycling and walking to school starting at the elementary age. The program provides education sessions to show how bicycling and walking are good alternatives to the automobile.

“This program is federally funded, but is administered by each state department of transportation, providing funding to localities to make walking and bicycling to school safe and appealing options for students,” said Gail Hayes, from the office of public affairs for the Virginia Department of Transportation in an e-mail interview.

Virginia Safe Routes to School Coordinator Sarah Weisger explains the process of implementing the program at individual schools.

“We work with schools and localities in Virginia to set up the bike to school programs in their communities,” said Weisger.

Weisger explained that the role she plays is to provide funding and technical assistance to the localities for the program.

“Administration in charge of schools have to take the responsibility of applying for funds and develop their own program,” said Weisger. “Localities have to want to promote biking to school and then we step in to help them in this process through workshops and some outreach.”

Weisger said some localities in Virginia have participated in the program for a while, such as Alexandria and Arlington.

“Some localities have better neighborhood schools so students may live no more than a mile from the school in which they attend, which plays an impact because the likelihood is high that a large amount of students will bike to school.”

Chesterfield County Public Schools has promoted biking to school in the county. The county had a training session at the end of April and is planning to schedule another session at the end of the fall.

“The training session is a 12 hour certification for teachers that would like to teach bicycle education in health and physical education classes,” said CCPS Safe Routes to School Coordinator Vicki Miller in an e-mail interview.

Miller said the sessions discussed instruction techniques, on-the-bike experiences, maintenance, physical skills tests, culminating ride lasting about three to five miles and a written test. The county works with an organization called BikeWalk Virginia, which is another advocacy group for bicycling in Virginia. BikeWalk has a specific program called BikeSmart, which emphasizes safety techniques when biking.

Non-Motorized Transportation Projects

The Non-Motorized Transportation Projects is a pilot program under the national agency the Federal Highway Administration to help the promotion of bicycling. The FHWA is a major agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Four localities across the nation were selected for the pilot program. The localities include Columbia, Mo., Marion County, Calif., Minneapolis, Minn., and Sheboygan County, Wis.

According to the FHWA Web site the program provides the four communities with $25 million each. Each area is tasked with the responsibility of demonstrating how improved walking and bicycling networks can increase the rates of people participating in those activities.

Jill Stedem, public information director for Columbia, said the program is in the beginning stages.

“We have been very slow to get it started because there are a number of steps to meet the state and federal guidelines to spend the money,” said Stedem. “The infrastructure projects have not started at this point other than three intersections.”

Stedem said Columbia is a difficult place to get around on by bike and so far the introduction of bike lanes and education about the pilot program has helped the process.

“The education part has been a big help because people have to realize that cars and bikes belong together,” said Stedem.

Stedem said the education program to promote bicycling in Columbia is called the Roll Together Campaign. Even with the education program, there has been opposition to the bike projects.

“We have had a lot of feedback from the public that has not been positive, such as the money is being wasted and that there are other important issues that the money needs to be spent on,” said Stedem.

Stedem hopes public opinion will change once the projects are complete.

The deadline for the four localities to present their progress with the program is September 2010.

“While it does not directly impact programs at VDOT the outcomes of the existing projects will help guide future transportation funding aimed at improving biking and walking transportation and safety,” said Hayes.

Click here to watch a slideshow of the organization BikeSmart at the Bike Virginia event. This organization is apart of BikeWalk Virginia and provided safety inspections during the event.

The Push for Bicycling and Safety in Virginia

Bike organizations in Virginia have worked to improve bicycling in the state.

“We are able to use programs such as Bike Virginia to educate our bikers on how to share the road,” Kimberly Perry, director of BikeWalk Virginia. “We also hope these programs provide awareness to drivers about sharing the road with bicyclists.”

Bike Virginia was an event presented by BikeWalk Virginia in June. More than 2,000 bicyclists from different parts of the U.S. participated in the five day event. The event began and ended in Charlottesville, Va. Bicyclists visited historical areas in Virginia during the five days.

Nathan Kelly participated as a biker during the event.

“BikeWalk Virginia has done a good job of educating its bikers about safety,” Kelly of Belmont, N.C., in a video interview. “Many of the bikers come to this event with bumper stickers about sharing the road so safety is high on the list of many bikers.”

BikeWalk, mentioned earlier in the article, is a non-profit organization located in Richmond, Va., which promotes biking and walking for health, environmental and economic benefits.

BikeWalk Virginia and other organizations such as the VBF are helping with the efforts of bicycle safety.

“There are ways to make bicycling safer in Virginia and we are advocating for the people because their voice is important,” said Barbara Duerk, immediate past president and membership director for VBF.

Duerk serves on the board of directors for VBF.

The VBF is pushing a couple of programs to help provide safe bicycling opportunities including ‘Share the Road’ and ‘Rails with Trails’. The first provides education on how both cars and bikes can share the road. The latter educates people on how biking along train tracks is safer than along the road.

Virginia has also put money into the upkeep of the bike trails system.

According to Duerk, Virginia has the most marked bike trails than any of the 50 states.

“We have 70 miles plus of bike trails which goes through 22 counties,” said Duerk. “We have cyclists from all over the country and world that come and ride the trails of Virginia.”

In a ranking by the League of American Bicyclists in 2008, Virginia ranks 23rd out of the 50 states for bicycle friendliness. The organization looks at 70 factors and evaluates states through a questionnaire to make a determination on rankings. The questionnaire evaluates commitment to bicycling and covers six areas such as legislation, policies and programs, infrastructure, education and encouragement, evaluation and planning and enforcement.

The League of American Bicyclists has been around since 1880 and is headquartered in Washington. The organization promotes bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America.

Bicycle friendliness and safety is high on the agenda of all bike advocates especially with reports of accidents.

According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report, Daniel Hersh was killed in Virginia Beach on April 19. He was a 54 year-old ex-Navy Seal and he was killed by a sport utility vehicle.

Also the report mentioned, in Hanover County Chris Tompkins, 60, was partially paralyzed when he collided with a car during a weekly group ride.

The programs such as the Safe Routes to School and the Non-Motorized Transportation Projects also promote safety as part of the education portions of their programs. All of the programs help in encouraging citizens to participate in bicycling.

Rebecca Van Dyke Audio

Rebecca Van Dyke was the representative for the company Specialized Bicycle Components. She talks about the benefits for her company by attending bike events, such as the Bike Virginia event that took place in Charlottesville, Va. in June. The Bike Virginia event was presented by BikeWalk Virginia.

Click here to watch a slideshow about Ashland, Va., bicycle business owner Edward Jones. He provided services to bikers at the Bike Virginia event.

Here is a poll about bicycling:

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RICHMOND, Va. — For Richmond mother Jo Ellen Gaines, her son’s wedding day had always been a dream in her mind. She could picture the planning, the ceremony, and the happiness surrounding the event. The day of both her and her son’s dreams came true in August of 2008 when Gaines’s son, Brian, married his partner David.

As a resident of California, Brian was allowed to marry when the Supreme Court of California overturned the ban on same-sex marriage. Sad news came for the Gaines’ family when in November of the same year, a public vote, known as Proposition 8, passed, eliminating marriage rights for same-sex couples. Fortunately, despite this new ban on same-sex marriage, unions of couples between June and November of 2008 remained legal.

Click the image above to watch an audio slideshow of the Capital Pride 2009 parade. The parade, held in Washington, D.C., was focused on the topic of gay mariage.

“It was a very uncertain time,” Gaines said. “We had a lot of fears and tears, but there was so much happiness as well. Brian and David were thrilled to be newlyweds and it’s so amazing to see their love grow to this day as spouses.”

Jo Ellen’s Story

Brian first revealed his sexual preference to his mother in 1994 at the age of 23. Gaines and her husband Harry at first were very concerned for their son, fearing he would face severe discrimination.

“We didn’t know what to think of his decision,” Harry said. “At the time, we were members of a very conservative Baptist church and didn’t know how the church and society would respond to Brian.”

Hoping to find some answers to questions they had about their son, Jo Ellen and Harry attended a PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meeting. Now in 2009, both are active members of PFLAG of Richmond, with Jo Ellen serving as the Coordinator for the Board of Directors of the organization.

Same-Sex Marriage in the United States
According to data from the U.S. Census in 2000, same sex couples accounted for 0.99 percent of all couples in the country. This figure was based off of self-reported data.

California led the pack with the most same-sex couples, having over 92,000 gay or lesbian couples. Washington, D.C., however, showed the largest percentage of same-sex couples at 5.14 percent.

While there is currently no federal law permitting same-sex marriage, several states have taken the power into their own hands to allow the unions.

Massachusetts was the first state to allow same-sex couples the right to marry. In 2004, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional to allow only heterosexuals couples the right to marry.

Both New York and Rhode Island do not currently grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. These two states do, however, recognize marriages performed in other areas.

Beginning in late 2008, the right of same-sex couples increased drastically in several states. In November of 2008, Connecticut began performing same-sex marriages. Iowa also passed legislation allowing same-sex marriage in April of 2009.

Use the map below to locate resources for the LGBTQI community in Richmond, Va.

View Larger Map

Starting September 1, 2009, Vermont will allow same-sex marriage. On the same date, Maine will also begin allowing homosexual couples the right to marry. Adding to the list of New England states allowing same-sex marriage, New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex marriage on January 1, 2010.

Same-Sex Marriage in Virginia

The 2000 U.S. Census data shows that there were 13,802 same-sex couples in Virginia, accounting for 0.89 percent of all couples. Of those same-sex couples, 7,053 were male couples. The other 6,749 were female couples.

In 2006, the Marshall-Newman Amendment, also known as the Virginia Marriage Amendment, was ratified by 57 percent of Virginia voters. This amendment defines marriage as solely between one woman and one man. It also bans the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.

PFLAG of Richmond’s view of Same-Sex Marriage

As the parents and friends of homosexual individuals, PFLAG of Richmond as well as the national chapter of the organization has taken a strong stance on the right of homosexual couples to marry.

“We fully support the rights of our sons and daughters to marry whomever they choose,” said Jo Ellen. “PFLAG stands behind that right and continuously work to foster the advancement of gay marriage.”

PFLAG of Richmond has actively participated in advocacy programs and educational opportunities.

“In 2006 when Virginians were set to vote on the Marriage Amendment, I helped to man phone lines for PFLAG to get the word out as to why this wasn’t the right move for the state,” said Frances Hylton, a PFLAG mom. “I called night after night trying to convince people to vote down the amendment.”

While most members of PFLAG support marriage equality because they view it as a civil right, others worry about the other issues that are faced if couples are not allowed to marry.

“Same-sex couples often aren’t given the same protections under the law,” said Quillin Drew, PFLAG member and Director of the Virginia Anti-Violence Project. “For example, in Virginia same-sex couples cannot obtain protective orders against their partners if there was a domestic violence situation. If all were given equal marriage rights, it would cut down this confusion of what other rights are up in the air.”

Click here to hear Drew explain the truth behind the myth that homosexual couples are more often involved in domestic disputes.

A Legislator’s View

With much popular debate as to whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in Virginia, many legislators are remaining firm and supporting the Marriage Amendment.

Adam Ebbin, a delegate to the General Assembly of Virginia for the 49th District, believes that these firm decisions are based on several factors.

“Right now, the tone of the General Assembly on gay rights and gay marriage is not supportive, but the other thing is that they don’t want to talk about them,” Ebbin said. “I believe that attitude comes from political reasons and fear of repercussions from the voters. There is also a lack of an open mind and religious reasons that stand in the way.”

Click here to hear Ebbin explain the process that would be needed for Virginia to pass an amendment allowing gay marriage.

Ebbin, who is the only openly gay delegate in General Assembly, fully supports gay marriage and believes that there will come a day when Virginia will issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

“I think all 50 states will eventually allow gay marriage, hopefully within my life time,” Ebbin said. “The acceleration of this as an issue has been amazing. The public opinion is changing and the public is becoming so enlightened as to why gay people are equal to other couples. And young people in the state are questioning why this is even an issue. Combine all those factors together and it will certainly lead to marriage equality for the whole United States.”

RICHMOND, Va. – Zanobia Jones lived in Gilpin Court, a housing project located near downtown Richmond, for more than ten years.

Though living in a housing project was not the ideal life for Jones, the low rent allowed her to save a little each month toward an apartment in a better neighborhood.

Her plan seemed to be working perfectly until the unthinkable happened: Jones came home one evening to find police officers inside her home.

“My cousin was selling drugs out of my unit when I wasn’t home,” Jones said, fighting back tears. “When I saw the police in the house I knew he messed everything up for me”.

The Richmond Regional Housing Authority, the government entity that manages the housing project, found Jones to be in violation of her leasing agreement and she was quickly evicted. With no where to go, Jones has spent the last two years sleeping in parks or shelters; abusing illegal drugs and alcohol to cope.

Click here to hear Zanobia Jones talk about life on the streets and her plans for the future.

Jones is only one of more than 1,000 homeless individuals living on the streets or in emergency shelters in the Richmond city limits.

Recognizing this rising epidemic, in January 2008, a city-wide coalition of nonprofit and social service agencies drafted an intervention program designed to eliminate homelessness in ten years.

Richmond is one of 234 cities that have organized ten-year programs, ranging from plans in huge metropolises to smaller, suburban communities. For example, Los Angeles’ plan includes the goal of housing the city’s estimated 73,000 homeless, while Henderson, North Carolina’s plan seeks to house its comparatively smaller homeless population of 91 persons.

According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are approximately 700,000 homeless individuals living on the streets and in shelters nationwide.

The key feature of Richmond’s ten-year plan to end homelessness is termed “Housing First”, an approach designed to provide homeless people with housing quickly and then offer additional services when needed. Housing First is based on the belief that homeless individuals and families respond best to professional intervention after they are secure in their own housing.

“Now we respond to a housing crisis by saying here’s an address to a shelter. The hope is that we would respond by saying let us help you quickly get back into someplace to live,” said Robyn Cane, director of the Medical Respite Program, a 30 day shelter for homeless individuals discharged from the hospital.

“We are trying to move from being an enabling system to an accountability system,” she added.

The ten-year plan is part of an accelerating national movement promoted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), an advocacy group that promotes measures to stop homelessness in the United States.

NAEH was founded in 1983 by a group of government leaders who were concerned about the rising number of individuals living on the street.

NAEH has a current network of over 9,000 partner agencies making it the largest organization in the nation dedicated to ending homelessness. The group provides data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform and educate the public and opinion leaders.

In 2000, NAEH distributed a report called “A Plan: Not a Dream – How to End Homelessness in Ten Years” to homeless agencies across the United States. The report included the NAEH blueprint for coordinating a homelessness rehabilitation program with the goal of eliminating urban homelessness within a decade.

“NAEH observed that the current approach to homelessness assistance was ineffectual,” said Catherine An, national spokesperson for NAEH, in an email interview. “So, we embarked on an effort to fundamentally change the way the country approaches the social problem with a new emphasis on prevention and reforming the homeless assistance systems to focus on solutions,” she added.

Many cities implementing ten-year plans are seeing positive results.

In New York City, the homeless population has decreased by 30 percent, in Dallas 26 percent and in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., 15 percent

Homeless numbers up in Richmond

According to Richmond’s ten-year plan, homelessness should decrease incrementally each year.

But, in a January 2009 study conducted by the homeless advocacy group Homeward, there were 1150 people living in a shelter or a place not meant for human habitation in the Richmond region. That’s up 7 percent from last year, when the ten-year plan was first implemented.

Homeward blames the current economic recession for the increase.

“The biggest increase is in the number of people who are homeless for the first time. Families and individuals from around our region are finding it more difficult to pay for housing and other necessities,” said Kelli King Horne, executive director of Homeward.

Of the 1150 homeless individuals surveyed, one third had been laid off; 18 percent in the last year.

Thirty- four people owned a home that was foreclosed, causing them to move into shelters or on the streets, according to the study. Twenty-two were renters and evicted by a landlord who lost the property due to foreclosure. That combined figure is about twice the number of January 2008.

These numbers fall in line with national trends. According to a study conducted in June 2009 by the NAEH, roughly ten percent of the 2008 homeless population in the United States was homeless as a direct result of foreclosure.

“It’s a new face of homelessness we haven’t seen before. Last year people would have read the stories in the paper watch them on the evening news and very possibly would have written a check to an organization that helps the homeless; today they are homeless,” King Horne said.

Click here to hear Kelli King Horne explain why she believes ending homelessness is possible.

But even as the economy may be a factor in rising numbers of homelessness, other underlying issues may also hurt the Richmond ten-year plan’s potential effectiveness.

Seeking political will

The Richmond plan faces a lack of concrete political interest and involvement. Cities with the most successful ten-year plans, including New York, Chicago and Dallas, have adopted signed resolutions from their mayors and city councils. Richmond’s plan relies exclusively upon support from non-profit and social agencies.

In fact, one of the named objectives in the Richmond plan is to achieve government involvement, a hurdle that other major cities do not have to confront.

“If you have a small group of community agencies get together and say we want to make a difference, well that’s nice we can make a difference on our own level,” said Virginia Supportive Housing Director Katie Van Arnum. Virginia Supportive Housing is a Richmond based non-profit that works to find permanent housing for the homeless.

“But when you have businesses and politicians involved at the table then absolutely, you have a tremendous chance of success,” Van Arnum said.

According to Tammy Hawley, press secretary for the mayor of Richmond, the mayor’s office is unaware of any ten-year plan.

More affordable housing needed

Another challenge that Richmond faces is the clear shortage in affordable permanent housing. Ten-year plans in other cities typically have established goals for the number of affordable housing units they will build. Many have already built the units and currently move homeless people in. Richmond, in contrast, has a very broad plan that does not list specific housing goals.

“The root cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing.” said Food Not Bombs-Richmond member Brian Gorman. Food Not Bombs has been a meal provider and social activist group for the homeless community since 1980. The Richmond chapter is one of 400 Food Not Bombs chapters worldwide.

“How can you end homelessness without a plan to create opportunities for stable housing? It doesn’t make sense,” Gorman added.

Timothy Rubel dishes up a large portion of gazpacho, a cold tomato-based raw vegetable soup. Click here to see an audio slideshow about Food Not Bombs.

The Richmond Re-development and Housing Authority (RRHA) is the only entity in Richmond that provides housing for those making below 30 percent of the median income ($21,000 a year or less); which represents those who are in the most danger of falling into homelessness or who are emerging from homelessness.

Unfortunately, RRHA was often considered stretched beyond its limit even before the sudden spike in homelessness. Currently, RRHA has only 4100 public housing units and there are thousands on the waiting list.

Current housing policy stifles plan

Compounding the problem of re-housing are planning and zoning laws that limit where agencies can relocate the poor. As of June 2009, the city of Richmond is the only jurisdiction in the region working on affordable housing development processes for those in the lowest income tier.

The City of Richmond has also been more flexible than others in permitting emergency shelters and homeless services to be located in its jurisdiction.

Nancy Poplum, administrator for The Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance in Chesterfield County, Virginia, says she has gone to Chesterfield County’s Department of Social Services for help with clients who have lost their homes and they in turn referred her to programs in the city of Richmond.

“Chesterfield denies that they have a homeless problem,” Poplum said.

According to Jacqueline Coates, a case manager for the Chesterfield Department of Social Services, there are indeed no emergency shelters or homeless services in Chesterfield County.

“The best we can do is refer anyone experiencing a housing crisis to Central Intake in Richmond,” Coates said.

Central Intake is the city of Richmond’s homeless shelter referral center

Of those surveyed in the January 2009 homeless count; 7 percent said their last residence was in Chesterfield County.

No jurisdiction in the Richmond region allows for permanent supportive housing developments – homes for homeless individuals with disabilities- without special zoning approval.

Ten-year plan supporters move onward

Despite the plan’s many challenges, those directly involved remain focused on moving forward.

The Daily Planet, an organization that provides a number of services to the homeless community, is calling landlords and negotiating leases for ex-offenders; who make up three-fourths of Richmond’s homeless population.

“We’ve even gone so far as to put our name on the leases of some clients,” said Susan Sukerke, assistant director of the Daily Planet. “If people can’t find a job or find a place to live then it’s not a real surprise when they turn back to a life of crime.”

Click here to hear Susan Sukerke discuss public misconceptions of homeless individuals.

Central Intake has begun helping families on the brink of losing their apartment or home, by giving them money to pay late bills, rather than referring them to shelters.

In January 2009, representatives of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA), Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) and Homeward signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).The MOU joins the three agencies in an agreement to help reduce Richmond’s homeless population by providing housing and social services to eligible homeless families living in the city’s homeless shelters.

“This agreement will allow for homeless families referred through RBHA to obtain housing in one of the RRHA’s public housing developments,” said John Hill, RRHA’s Deputy Executive Director for Affordable Housing. “It lends itself to the elimination of homelessness in the city of Richmond through a collaborative approach.”

In the MOU, RRHA agreed to, based on the availability of housing units, make available up to 150 units. RBHA and Homeward agreed to screen homeless applicants, prior to referring them to RRHA. The MOU terminates two years from the date of the agreement signing or upon signing 150 lease agreements referred to RRHA under the agreement.

Stimulus money on the way

Developers of Richmond’s ten-year plan are hoping that the recent stimulus package will help create more housing opportunities.

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes a $1.5 billion for a homelessness prevention fund, called the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

Homeward Executive Director Kelli King Horne hopes that the city’s share of $2,044,088, set to be received on September 30, 2009, will serve as a decisive turning point to eliminate homelessness for good.

“We know that helping people find and maintain housing, whatever that looks like, is better for the people involved,” King Horne said. “We have the data to know what the problem is, we know what the solutions are and some things are working. So, I absolutely believe ending homelessness is possible.”
________________________________________________________

Table 1: January 2009 Snapshot of Individuals and Families Experiencing Homelessness in the Richmond Region
The January 2009 homeless count found that they are currently 1150 homeless individuals living in the streets or in emergency shelters in the Richmond region. Click here to learn more about the individuals surveyed.  Source: Homeward

Table 2: Homeless for the first time – Demographics
According to Homeward, the largest increase in Richmond’s homeless population was those who were homeless for the first time.
Click here for more information on this segment of the homeless population. Source Homeward

Table 3: Stimulus Allocations
Homeless programs are about to get a big push in a new direction. They used to focus on providing food and shelter. Now, the economic stimulus package is providing $1.5 billion to prevent people from becoming homeless and to quickly re-house those who do.
Click here to view each community’s allocation of these funds. Source: United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

All files are in pdf format. If unable to view, click here to download a free version of Adobe Reader.

Find your nearest homeless shelter
Check out the Homeless Shelter Directory web site widget to find your closest emergency shelter.

Play the video above to see what leads a student to drop out of school.

FIGURES CAN BE “MISLEADING, DECEPTIVE”

      Across the country, 1.3 million students, three out of every ten, fail to complete high school with a diploma, according to the findings of Diplomas Count 2009, a national report from Education Week, a trade publication, and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center.

      The multi-year research project, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reports that America’s graduation rates have improved by three percentage points over the last decade before falling by a percentage point in 2006, the final year of data in the report.

      “As a nation, we have a long way to go,” said Christopher B. Swanson, the director of the EPE Research Center.  “The numbers we are looking at pose a real and serious threat to the country’s international competitiveness.”

      The report says that between the years 1996 and 2006, Virginia’s graduation rate fell from 73.4 percent to 69.2 percent.  That represents the fifth largest drop in the nation, according to the report.

This chart contains the graduation rates of the 50 states and Washington, DC over the last decade, as compiled by the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center.

      The report represents a “flawed estimate,” according to Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education.

      “Education Week uses its own formulas which ignore some important variables,” said Pyle.

      Pyle said the number of public school dropouts has been “poorly tracked” historically and that, “Until recently, no state could track it.”

      A new effort, he said, to begin tracking individual students with unique identity numbers is yielding accurate information for the first time.

      The Virginia Cohorts Report, tracked every student in Virginia from the time they began their freshman year until their expected graduation in the spring of 2008. 

       According to the findings of that report, of the 96,152 students in the class, just over 82 percent of them graduated.  Almost nine percent, or 7,692 students, dropped out and another 1,894 students are described as having an “unconfirmed status.”

       Students in the group who go on to earn a GED are not counted among the number of graduates.

       Pyle said it is gratifying to the department to see the dropout figures as high as some earlier estimates that place the rate two or three times higher.  However, the numbers are still sobering.

       “There’s a lot of work to do in Virginia,” said Pyle.

These statistics were published by the Virginia Department of Education from its new Cohorts Report for the Class of 2008

       Others outside the department question the figures.

       “Nine percent?  Huh, that’s lower than what I’ve heard,” said Dr. Kitty Boitnott, the president of the Virginia Education Association, in reference to the state education department’s numbers.

       “Numbers are important, but you can do a lot of things with numbers.  And I don’t think the numbers represent what’s really going on in the communities and the schools.” said Mary Jo Washko, the director of the Middle College Program at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in downtown Richmond.

REASONS FOR DROPPING OUT VARY

      Washko, who has spent her entire career working with at-risk youth, would know.  Since 2004, the Middle College program she directs has helped hundreds of students earn their GED and go on to a community college program.  Washko describes Middle College as a college recovery program, but is careful to avoid the term dropout.

     “That term, ‘high school dropout,’ always makes me flinch a little bit because I know that there’s a stigma attached to that,” she said.

      The Middle College program can accommodate 100 students a year.  That’s only a fraction of the more than 500 applications it receives every year.

      “And we don’t even advertise,” said Washko.

       Washko says the students she works with carry with them incredible stories that make the stigma that comes with dropping out of school unfair.

       “I think, in the 21st century, people would be amazed at the circumstances a lot of our students encounter that result in them not finishing high school,” she said.

       Washko says she has worked with students who were abandoned by parents who were drug addicts and criminals.  Some were compelled to leave school because they had to tend to younger siblings, or older relatives whowere ill.  Others became homeless after their parents divorced and no longer had a home for them.

       “They don’t have the bootstraps to pull up because they’re still trying to get the boots.  You know?  Everyone says, ‘You can just pull yourself up by your bootstraps.’  Oftentimes, people who are saying that are people who have those support systems in place.  They’ve not had to wonder how am I going to pay my rent?  Or, how am I going to feed my child?” said Washko.

       Those very concerns plagued Natasha Scholl, 24 after she failed to graduate from high school and found herself as a homeless, single mother at the age of 19.

       “Everybody’s different.  Sometimes it’s circumstantial,” said Scholl.

       “My parents died when I was twelve and I ended up in foster homes and group homes.  Because I was moved around so much, my credits didn’t transfer to every high school.  Every high school was different and had different credit systems.

       “When I was 18 and released from the state’s care, I tried to go back to high school and because [I was missing] so many credits, I was unable to be accepted back,” she said.

       At 19, Scholl had a daughter, a low-paying retail job and lived in a group home.

       “I had a job, the same job for five years.  But it didn’t pay enough to be a single mom,” Scholl said.

       “Most people know what’s out there in the real world and know that you have to have an education to get a good job.  I knew that I had to focus on education and get my GED,” she said.

       Stories like Scholl’s are what makes the dropout issue too difficult to simply fix, say experienced educators.

       “Sometimes it’s family circumstances.  Some of these young people live in just some pretty horrific settings.  But one needs to be careful about making a judgment that dropouts are simply tough kids who have bad family lives, because that’s simply not true,” said Fred Morton, who retired this month after serving as the superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools since 2004.

       Morton said he was always sensitive to the plight of dropouts, because he nearly was one.

       “I came very close to dropping out of high school,” he said.

       Morton failed the seventh grade and was forced to repeat it.  By the time he made it to high school, he was frustrated with the education system.

       “I had a very supportive family.  I just didn’t like school and felt very disconnected because of the work, what I was asked to do, how it’s shaped.  There were certainly caring and well-intentioned adults in the school that I went to.  I just didn’t connect with them,” he said.

       So how does a would-be high school dropout go onto a career in public education?

       “I am living proof that God has a sense of humor,” Morton said with a chuckle.

       He insists, however, that his experience is proof that there is no science as to why an individual drops out of school.

       “While there are some commonalities in the way students may be, those who choose to drop out come from very well-to-do families to families that live in the depth of poverty.  They are students, who sometimes are doing okay in school, but who are frustrated.  A number of students who drop out are actually gifted.  So, there’s not one common descriptor.  I think the most misunderstood thing is the thinking that kids who drop out were dumb or lazy or who came from poverty,” said Morton.

Click video above to learn how Henrico County’s award-winning effort to reduce its dropout numbers began.

EVERY DROPOUT IS A “TRAGEDY”

      The Virginia Department of Education claims that their policies and the state’s $6.2 billion public education policy are focused on helping every student succeed.

     “It’s always been the expectation that every student will earn a high school diploma.  You can’t say, ‘let’s just write off one, two or three percent of them,” said Charles Pyle, the state education department’s spokesman.

      Similar thinking is what led Henrico County Public Schools Superintendent Fred Morton to ask for a list of every student who had dropped out after the county’s dropout rate had doubled from two percent to four percent a few years ago.

     “Comparatively across the state, that was still okay,” said Morton.  “It turns out that rather than looking at percentile, you ought to look at numbers.  That number was 723 kids.  That’s probably 723 too many,” he said.

     That number shocked Morton and inspired a series of conversations with his high school principals about what could be done to reduce that figure.  However, spending more money was not an option.

     “Over the last couple years in Virginia, we’ve had tight resources.  Turns out, there are some pretty neat things you can do that don’t cost any money,” Morton said.

     Instead, Morton asked each school administrator to adopt ten kids from a list of students at their school who showed signs for being at risk of dropping out.

     “Some folks were like, whoa, what do you mean adopt?  I don’t mean adopt and, like, take home, but really, take under their wing,” said Morton.

      Morton said the extra attention really paid off.  The administrators and the students formed bonds that seemed to keep the students engaged.  Often, Morton would be introduced to the students as he visited schools throughout the year.

     “The results were pretty extraordinary,” he said.

     At the end of the school year, the school system’s dropout rate had fallen back to two percent and the number of students who had dropped out shrunk by more than 300.  The Virginia Association of School Superintendents cited the drop-out effort Morton led in their decision to name him Virginia’s 2009 Superintendent of the Year.  Morton, however, is quick to deflect the accolade to those who work throughout the county’s schools.

     “The work is certainly not done for the recognition.  It’s for knowing that, okay, for a couple hundred kids each year, we’ve made a difference for them.

     “It’s an on-going dialogue.  We may never get to all of them, but we need to make an effort to do it,” said Morton.

Click here to listen to Fred Morton explain why concerns over international competitiveness should not be driving the nation’s effort to reduce dropout numbers.

     A one-on-one focus is what guides Career Coaches.  They are community college employees who work in high schools to help students make college and career plans for after they leave high school.  Unlike traditional guidance counselors, Career Coaches do not get assigned to cafeteria duty and other school day chores.  They focus exclusively on helping individuals make realistic future plans.

     “Students approach me wondering, ‘Are there programs out there to help me?’ because they really just don’t know.  It’s such a wonderful sensation to see the light bulb go off and the mindset start to click.   That’s great,” said Johnny Isom who has worked as a Career Coach at Huguenot High School in the city of Richmond for the last three years.

     The retired U.S. Navy career counselor says he’s especially proud to be working with children with whom he shares a common background.

     “My personal background helps me relate to the students I work with in an urban setting.  I’m proud to say I grew up in that type of environment.  I know of the barriers and obstacles that can be distracting.  Having that background helps me to focus,” Isom said.

     Personal connections and future plans are essential to keep students from dropping out, Isom believes.

     “Inevitably, you will lose a student or two,” he said.  “If you can help a student come up with a career plan, create an educational aspiration and set of goals and help them have some vision, then that changes the dropout rate.  If they have a plan, they stay on task,” said Isom.

     Career Coaches serve in more than 110 high schools across Virginia.  Some of those schools, in the rural parts of the state, have seen an increase of as much as seven percent in the number of their graduates who go onto pursue college.  People involved in the effort say the key is to start working with the students in the ninth grade.

     “I think they need that encouragement,” said Isom.

     For people like Natasha Scholl, whose parents died when she was twelve; and who at 19 had a child but not a diploma or GED, there are programs like Middle College, which operates out of five of Virginia’s 23 community colleges.

      Scholl said she was fascinated by the program because it was offered on a college campus.

     “It’s like wow, I’m going to college.  I’d never been to college.  You think college is for people who have a lot of money or are really smart.  You’re like, wow, I’m going to college.  It’s really self boosting.  It’s, you know, really cool,” she said.

     While working through the Middle College program and earning her GED, she earned an internship at the Richmond office of Odell Associates, Inc., an architecture and interior design firm with offices located in a total of four cities.  The internship turned into a full-time job, and the single mother who had been working at Big Lots found herself drawing architectural plans.

     “I plan to be there until I retire.  It’s an awesome company,” said Scholl, who is simultaneously pursuing an associate’s degree at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College.

     “I have a long way to go in my learning,” said Scholl.

      Scholl said she plans to go on to a university and eventually earn a master’s degree.  But she says the education is already paying-off for her and her daughter.  This past spring, they moved out of the group home they shared with 25 other women and children and bought a house.  Scholl also bought a car.  She said they now have the simple things that so many people take for granted.

Click here to listen to Natasha Scholl explains how failing to complete high school frames her approach to parenting.

     People who work in the Middle College program say they are proud of the program’s results.  Of those who enter the program, 70 percent successfully earn their GED and of that group, 70 percent go on to pursue a college program.

     “There are entry level jobs that the employers aren’t really going to check to see what your certification is.  It’s not worth the effort for the amount they’re paying for the position.  Our students know that. 

     But they also recognize that in order to make a living wage, something that would allow them to live where they want to live, and have other opportunities available, you can’t get anywhere without an education, any kind of education, whether it’s going into post-secondary or some kind of training program,” said Mary Jo Washko, the director of the Middle College at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.

JOB PROSPECTS DIM FOR DROPOUTS

     Finding a job amid the recession is not impossible for someone who has dropped out of high school, but it is not far from that according to people who provide employment services to job seekers.

     “What we see when somebody walks through the door right now is almost a defeatist’s feeling,” said Holly Manslanka, the employment center coordinator at the Capital Region Workforce Network One Stop Center in South Richmond.

     “Individuals come in saying, ‘I really have no worth because I’m competing with people who already have the high school diploma or GED and I am already feeling like I am in a situation that is insurmountable,” she said.

Click here to listen to Holly Manslanka explain the emotional challenges people without any formal education face in seeking to work.

      Marine Corps Reservist Erik Jones said he knew that feeling all too well.  The former high school dropout  took a lot to decide to earn his GED and pursue jobs in computer programming.

      “I stopped believing in myself after I dropped out,” Jones said.

      “When [people] come into the center, the hardest step [for them] is feeling good about yourself.  It’s surrounding yourself with people who are encouraging you, whatever your decision is, whether it’s to pursue a GED or to stay in school,” said Maslanka.
 
      The One Stop Center in South Richmond is now serving approximately 1,000 people a week – a substantial increase over the 400 people a week who were accessing the center before the recession.  The facility has tools that allow people to work on their own to find jobs, like job listings and computers, as well as staff that are willing to help people one-on-one with their job search.

     The center offers on-site nine-week GED classes that are over-flowing with attendees.  Staff members expected ten to twelve people to attend the summer session.  More than 50 people came to the first session, with 26 of them signing on for the entire class.

The Capital Region Workforce Network One Stop Center is a resource for anyone seeking a job. Click on the photo to launch an audio slideshow about the added challenge former dropouts face when looking for a job.

     People lacking a high school diploma or GED accounted for 13.5 percent of the Richmonders collecting unemployment insurance in May, 2009; according to a Richmond City Community Profile report published by the Virginia Employment Commission.

     Officials at the employment commission, however, say they lack the data necessary to compute a statewide figure.

     “We have no way of knowing.  We don’t collect that information,” said Bill Mezger, the commission’s chief economist.

     One Stop Center staff members say a lack of education isn’t the only barrier facing job seekers- but it is the largest one. 

     “Our whole motivation is to encourage someone to find the wherewithal to be able to get that GED or high school diploma eventually,” said Maslanaka.

     So what job opportunities exist for someone who has no diploma or GED and has no interest in pursuing one?

     Maslanka said such a person’s entry-level job options would include only retail sales, fast food, janitorial positions, self-employment and labor production-type positions.

     “Even some of the labor production-type positions now, because they’re shrinking in this area, are harder to get without a GED or high school diploma,” said Maslanka.

     Maslanka said some of the most compelling circumstances belong to people who dropped out of school years ago for jobs that are now disappearing.  She recalled the plight of two people she has been working with who dropped out over 20 years ago for factory jobs that were paying them as much as $70,000 a year.

     “They said think about it: I’ve pushed this button for 15 years.  And I intended to push that button until I wasn’t working, until I was able to retire.  And now, that means of income has been taken away.  The job is no longer there.  And there is no job comparable to that in the area.

     “Now, they often don’t qualify for jobs that are paying minimum wage.  That’s a significant impact on a person’s feelings of self-worth,” she said.

     Maslanka says though that is an extreme example, and such people qualify for extra and intensive assistance and job training, it is really happening to people.

     “We tell everybody that it’s a long road.  It’s not going to happen overnight,” said Maslanka.

     “We like to say that there is a job for everyone and there’s a way to get there,” she said.

     The added challenge of finding a job for a high school dropout is recognized across the nation and widely discussed by members of the Obama Administration.

     In 2008, the national unemployment rate for high school dropouts was nearly double that of high school graduates and paychecks that dropouts brought home were 25 percent less than those of high school graduates, according to numbers compiled by the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This chart of 2008 employment and salary information was compiled and published bythe U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.

     “There are no good dropouts — no good jobs today for high school dropouts.  Students that drop out today are basically condemned to poverty and social failure,” said Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education in remarks to an education group last May, according to published reports of his address.

     In introducing his call for five million more college graduates in a decade, President Obama said the nation’s job prospects will be even harder to get for people who fail to finish high school.

     “We know that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience.  We will not fill those jobs — or even keep those jobs here in America — without the training offered by community colleges,” Obama said, according to the remarks published on the White House Web site.

       America’s dropout rate has remained steady over the past decade, despite the billions of dollars being spent on the country’s K-12 public schools.

       Efforts to agree upon ways to define and count high school dropouts, most notably from the National Governors Association, have yielded few results.

       The industries that allowed dropouts to earn enough money to support a family and live a middle class lifestyle are quietly slipping away.

       But people who have faced the challenges of the dropout issue firsthand and who have dedicated their life to improving it say pessimism over the challenge will help nobody.

       “What we’ve been able to do in 50 years in this country, with the access to education and the amount of time that people stay in education is extraordinary.  And it’s a success.  Are we done yet?  The answer is no.  But I think the view really needs to be the long view and not the short view,” said Fred Morton, amid the cardboard boxes that will carry a career-worth of accolades, pictures and personal belongings into retirement.

       “I just think the answer is much more complex and we really need to look at people as individuals rather than a group,” he said.

News Feed Widget:  Click here to see the latest news headlines about high school dropouts.

CHESTERFIELD Va., – Kim and Pat Turner quite possibly have the biggest hearts in Chesterfield, Virginia, but they would never admit it. It is just another typical Saturday afternoon in July at “daddy’s park.”
That’s what the Turner family’s four children call Rockwood Park, just off Hull Street Road.

“The children just love to come here and see daddy after work,” Kim Turner said.

Pat works at the park, Kim works for the Department of Defense. The Turners moved here four years ago with one daughter, Kayle, who was just 8 years old at the time. Since then their family has doubled.

Expanding a family during a recession is something many families have to put a lot of thought into. With more than 6 million Americans collecting unemployment, according to the Department of Labor, many families are not in a place currently where they could afford to have children or adopt.

“We thought about adopting in Ohio, but it was way too expensive, we couldn’t afford it, so we decided to go ahead and try foster care.”

Kim Turner and her adopted daughter Caylee playing at the park. Click on the photo to see an audio slideshow about how the Turner Family got involved with foster care.

The plan was to only parent 4 year olds and older, at least that was Kim and Pat’s plan. Kayla wanted little ones and that’s what she got.

Three years ago the Turner family took in 11-month-old Calee. Her mother needed some time to get her life in order. The Turners were only going to take care of her for a few months, but at a custody hearing four months into Caylee’s stay, the Turners found out Caylee’s biological mother was expecting twins. Little did the Turner’s know there family really was going to grow.

“In order to keep the whole family together we made the tough decision to adopt all three children,” Kim said.

Click here to listen to Kim Turner talk about recruiting foster families.

Three little ones seem to suit the Turners perfectly. Mom, dad and big sister Kayla each hold a hand while walking through the park. The twins, Jacob and Kiera are now 3, Calyee’s 4 and Kayla is 12.

The Turner family had no intention of adopting when they decided to become foster parents and really had no idea they’d be raising little ones, all of whom have special needs.

From Foster Care To Adoption

Worried about the financial hardship in the beginning, the Turners found out the county has money to help them, and any family who decides to adopt through social services. It’s one of the benefits of adopting through a public agency.

That’s quite possibly why the recession isn’t having a negative impact on the state’s foster care and adoption programs.

“There has been no documented impact from the recession on public adoption agencies right now,” said Amy Munn, who works for Henrico County Social Services in the Foster Care Prevention Unit.

A new mom herself, Munn says it may take another year before the county really starts to see any impact. But private agencies are starting to feel the ripple effects.

Adoptions Down At Private Agencies

International adoptions alone are down nearly 25% compared to 2004 when they were at an all-time high, according to the National Council for Adoption.

Click here to see the most recent adoption and foster care statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services

“The fees are really going up and parents may be looking at other alternatives when considering adopting,” Chuck Johnson of the National Council for Adoption said. “The recession is certainly one of the factors in that.”

International adoptions can cost as much as $30,000 or more. Domestic adoptions from private agencies can also become expensive. While fees range, they too can climb to $10,000 Johnson said.

Domestic adoptions are also down by almost a third at Children’s Home Society of Virginia in the wake of the recession. The non-profit group reported placing 31 newborns between July 2007 and June 2008. In that same time span last year, the group says it has only placed about 20 newborns.

But Debra Wilson, the child placing supervisor for Children’s Home Society, isn’t convinced the recession is the only factor.

“Women that call us and say they are considering placing their child for adoption are in a real crisis situation and that’s been long standing. It didn’t just happen because of the economy,” Wilson said. “This job is like a roller coaster. We have some months where we don’t receive any calls from birth parents who are considering placing their children for adoption or temporary foster care and other months we get three to four calls.”

Click here to see Debra Wilson talk about the entire adoption process from start to finish.

Almost everyone working with children in foster care and adoption agrees it is hard right now to measure the recession’s impact on adoption. As of July 1, there were 6,924 children in foster care in Virginia, with 1,489 up for adoption. Munn says this isn’t any different than from a year ago.

The First Lady of Virginia, Anne Holton, who is an advocate for foster care and adoption, doesn’t know if the recession is having an impact. When contacted for the story she didn’t feeling comfortable to talk about the subject, her office says the information just isn’t there. And it may be impossible to truly know because the federal government doesn’t track adoption figures.

The Cost of Adopting

“I hope cost wouldn’t be the only factoring in motivating a family to adopt,” Erica Mann, a treatment and foster care supervisors at the Richmond regional center for United Methodist Family Services, said.

UMFS, a private agency, specializes in placing special needs children into what they call “forever homes.”

“We work with children who may slip through the cracks,” Mann said.

While workers have seen a decline in the number of international adoptions during the recession, they do say they’ve received more calls from families looking to adopt special needs children. There are lower fees for those families, just one of the benefits Mann said.

“Our clients benefit from us being a private agency because we often have small case loads that some of the public sector doesn’t have the luxury of having,” Mann said. “I think we really get the time to get to know our kids and our families, and have the times to find a perfect match.”

But those who work for the public sector say going through social services have major advantages and that money is one of them. Something important to consider during the recession.

“I think there are some financial motivations to it,” Ty Parr said. Parr works for Henrico County Social Services and is a Comprehensive Services Act specialist, meaning he manages the money that is used for children in the county, especially for those in foster care.

“It’s a lot of money. Parents can adopt a child for free and they’re still getting monthly stipends that can pay for anything,” Parr said.

Anything from food and clothes to summer camp.

Each child’s monthly stipend is decided on an individual basis. But for example, the base rate for fostering a child 13 and older is $648 plus an additional $1000 because they’re a teenage. In addition, parents can receive extra money for medical and mental health treatment.

“Our goal is to support the family and give them every resource they need,” Parr said.

These incentives are also important because advocates say this helps get children out of the foster care system and adopted sooner.

“Most of the children that get adopted out of foster care are adopted by their foster parents,” Laura Ash-Brackley, the director of the Partnership for Adoption Program, said. “We’ve had several families who’d like to adopt children, but are hesitant at first because of their financial situation.”

Click here to listen to Laura Ash-Brackley talk about concerns some people have with adopting foster children.

But Parr points out that adoption and foster care should never be considered a financial hardship.

“If you’ve just been laid off, have no income and want to take a child in, that would be just too stressful for everyone involved,” Parr said.

Deciding What’s Best

And while fostering a child and adopting them from social services works for some families like the Turner’s, it’s not for everyone. That could be why there is no real evidence private agencies are hurting more because of the recession. For some it’s just a personal choice.

Glen and Lori Sturtevant are currently going through the adoption process through Children’s Home Society of Virginia. They’ve been waiting for a newborn for almost a year. They chose to go through a private adoption agency because of concerns about foster care.

“There’s always that fear the parents could come back and want their child, and that would be really hard for me,” Lori said.

Click here to listen to why the Sturtevant family decided on adopting an infant through a private agency.

The Sturtevant family does think the recession is having an impact on adoption, which is why they’ve been waiting for so long.

“If things are bad economically, you might normally think that a woman who might normally consider adoption might want to keep the child because it gives them some sense of comfort in a time that is economically troubling for a lot of people.”

Click here to see the latest news about adoption and foster care.

RICHMOND, Va. – While in school, most books read by Natasha Shields (not her real name) were on theology and God. From her early twenties, Shields was dealing with the fact that she was a lesbian. She grew up in religiously conservative church in eastern Texas where the choice was to be Christian or gay. But her faith in God and theology never wavered.

Around three years back, Shields, a religion major in college, was very active with a church in Richmond. Her minister was aware of her being a lesbian and seemed supportive at first.

Over a period of time, on more than one occasion, he jokingly offered sperm to Shields. Although Shields was shocked, she shrugged it off with a nervous laugh. Later came the e-mails from the minister advising her on handling things and giving references to her “lifestyle choices.” She says, “He obviously was referring to my sexuality.”

Shields didn’t believe sexuality was a choice for her.

“It’s just a part of who you are,” she asserts.

Shields is just one of the area’s many religiously devout homosexuals who have trouble finding a spiritual home.

Shields ended her membership with that church and looked for a open and more accepting place of worship, where she and her partner for almost three years, Jane Cook (not her real name), felt comfortable as a couple and as individuals. For the last year, the couple has been a part of Ginter Park Presbyterian Church in Richmond where they have felt very welcomed.

“For me, coming to Ginter Park is like coming home,” Shields says. “When we first came here together we would not touch and people really didn’t know who we were. Over time we became more comfortable as a couple and we met other gay coupes started going for church retreats.”

Ginter Park is one of the 17 churches in Richmond that welcomes the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in their congregation.

Click here to view a list of 17 gay-friendly churches in Richmond, Virginia.

Small number of churches in Virginia and other states in America have opened doors and advocated for the LGBT community. This year, the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban by California’s Supreme Court has been much debated and only five states so far have legalized same-sex marriage.

Yet, nationally there has been a growing phenomenon of gay-friendly or also professed as open and affirming churches serving as a safe haven for the gay community to worship without judgment.

Shields has observed that most churchgoers decide by looking at the home page message whether they want to be part of that mission and culture. Currently, both Shields and Cook are perusing their masters in divinity at a seminary in Richmond.

“My relationship with God has been steady but my relationship with the church has been inconsistent,” Cook says.

But now, the Presbyterian Church’s theology makes more sense to her and it has more room for dialogue and study.

Couples like Cook and Shields have faced their share of rejection and prejudice in and outside the church and are still coming to terms with the fact that people are taught to love and accept one another and yet only handful of places have congregations open to all.

Click here to listen to Natasha Shields talk about dealing with her identity as a lesbian and studying at the seminary.

According to Elaine Sundby’s survey, the founder of G.A.L.I.P. (Gods Agape Love put Into Practice) there are 5,301 churches in United States that are open and affirming towards the LGBT community. This is an increase of 495 churches since 2007, bringing it to a 10 percent hike. G.A.L.I.P. is a non-profit organization claiming to be dedicated in bringing the reconciling message of God’s love to the LGBT community.

The G.A.L.I.P. website shows that gay-friendly church count in Virginia is about 123 churches with the Metropolitan Community Church being a prominent figure in Richmond. For more than three decades, the MCC has served in Richmond and performed holy unions for same-sex couples at their church. Virginia has not legalized gay marriages but the office manager at the MCC, Jay Irvine, hopes that some day it will.

Irvine acknowledges that there is still a lot of homophobia in the area. He has seen many gay citizens become members at MCC after being rejected by their denominations.

Growing up in a Baptist church, Irvine was taught that ‘homosexuality is a sin’. But that didn’t deter him from being part of an open-minded church.

“All that matters is a person’s soul and his spiritual relationship with God,” he says.

Reverend Mieke Vandersall of the Presbyterian Welcome in New York works with a group of 20 welcoming Presbyterian congregations. The congregations have a common mission statement: Welcoming all members regardless of their sexual orientation. Yet even today, the organization has been not been able to achieve the desired rights for gay members in the church.

In 1997 the denomination passed a law that prohibited the LGBT members from being ordained and it hasn’t been repealed since. Vandersall feels it’s not been an easy struggle.

“We get closer and closer in reaching our goal but in that process we have lost many leaders and really good people,” she says.

Vandersall points out that the references to homosexuality in the scripture are made in a particular context and for a particular time.

“It is pointing more towards the use of power more than the sexuality itself,” she says.

For openly gay member, R. Dale Smith of the St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, a gay-friendly church means he can bring his partner to church and the word gay will be spoken in a positive manner. It also means the pastor will talk about the gay members of the congregation and mourn the fact there is no gay marriage in Virginia.

Smith has been teaching introduction to religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and performs a one-man theater piece titled “Jesus Phreak.” He feels there is no stopping the legalization of same-sex marriages in this country.

R. Dale Smith has a comic one-man show, "Jesus Phreak," where the protagonist has a dream about Jesus. Click on the photo for an audio slideshow to know how the entire play came about.

“It’s going to take time but it’s just a matter of time,” he states. “This is not something you can stop once its starts.”

He credits popular television shows such as “Will and Grace” and openly gay personalities like Ellen DeGeneres for humanizing gay culture.

“As much as Christian churches as a whole hate to admit it, culture does lead them,” he claims. “As the culture becomes more and more gay friendly, I think the Christian churches are going to slowly catch up.”

The gay community and the religious advocates for the community recognize that they need liberal straight Christians to support them in changing attitudes and breaking the barrier of prejudice. In many instances, the straight members of the congregation have joined a church because of its open and accepting values.

“I think they want to be in a congregation that affirms love as a primary value rather than hate,” reasons Rev. Terri Balos, Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Glen Allen.

Several years ago, UUC went through a course as part of its tradition where the church quoted “we are all children of God” as part of their program literature and LGBT individuals, people with other theological beliefs, and people from different ethnic backgrounds, were all welcomed to worship.

“People are focusing on homosexuality, but adultery is in there too and that’s much more dangerous,” Balos says, quoting the Reverend Billy Graham. For Balos, it doesn’t matter what a person’s faith or traditions are—it comes down to what you want to believe in.

Click here to listen to Rev. Terri Balos at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Glen Allen talk about a tragic incident that occured last year in their church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Fateema Blackwell a minister at the Mt. Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries in Richmond strongly disagrees.

She says, “One of the things the bible talks about is Adam and God created man and woman and they procreated. Homosexual marriages become a non-natural means to procreate. I take the bible for it is. I can dig deeper and try to get a greater understanding of it. I don’t want to twist it and pervert it.”

Mt. Gilead has never turned down anybody including LGBT individuals to worship at their church. But Blackwell says, “I believe in holiness and to walk a clean life. Not that you are not making mistakes. But you trying to do right by God and in order to be a good example, I don’t think can do it by being contradictory to what we believe in the bible.”

Jay Squires, President of the Gay Community Center of Richmond (GCCR), says a widely held opinion in the LGBT community is that there isn’t a connection between a person’s sexual orientation and his or her ability to appropriately worship. GGCR is a nine-year old organization serving the needs of the LGBT community while supporting programming efforts of more than 20 organizations that serve them.

Over the years Squires has seen a great improvement in the city of Richmond.

“If you go beyond city limits then like anywhere else it tends to become more conservative,” he points out.

He is optimistic about making progress in metro Richmond and continues to fight against discriminatory laws against the gay community.

Nathan Perkins and Spencer Harpe are a gay couple living together in Richmond. Click on the photo for an audio slideshow about their relationship with each other and the church.

For any church that becomes all inclusive or open and affirming, it’s not an overnight decision. Interim Pastor, Don Smith at Bethel United Church of Christ in Arlington, recollects that three years ago the church had go through a process of doing a biblical study and gather people in the community including psychologists and counselors to comment on their understanding of open and affirming. After the process, the congregation voted to unconditionally open doors to the LGBT community.

For Bethel United open and affirming means a full life for the LGBT members and, besides membership, they are allowed employment and leadership within the church.

Smith feels in terms of Virginia as a state, northern Virginia is more progressive and counties like Fairfax and Arlington are open-minded towards gay couples due to the proximity to Washington D.C. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for Virginia combined data from 2005, 2006 and 2007 to show that the county with the highest number of two-male partners is in Fairfax County with 1,793 households. Fairfax County comes at the top again for households with two-female partners with 1032 homes.

Couples like Cook and Shields who have been living in downtown Richmond prefer the area because they feel different neighborhoods have different attitudes towards gay couples living together.

“People are just afraid of what they don’t know,” Cook claims. “If they are unfamiliar with something or someone, then they are not immediately accepting to it.”

Click here to listen to Jane Cook talk about the pastor at Ginter Park Presbyterian Church standing by the gay members of the church.

Overall, the support the couple gets from their pastor at Ginter Park means a step towards opening the dialogue with the community.

“It’s important to have people who are in the doors to work and advocate for people who are not allowed inside,” Cook says. “If we were just sort of out and trying to get in to get people to listen to us, so we could tell them why we are normal, they are not going to have any reason to listen.”

Click here to view a pie-chart on top five counties in Virginia that has same-sex couples. To access this chart you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.

Click on the link below to answer a poll on gay-friendly churches.

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RICHMOND, Va.–For 23-year-old Natalie Mesnard, it took a best-selling book by national food guru Michael Pollan to inspire her to work on a farm.

“A big part of it was reading the book, “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” she says. “Everybody started reading it and it really drew people in who may not have gotten into the scene of eating local, eating seasonal.”

For the last year, Mesnard has worked the ten-acre Amy’s Garden farm in Charles City, growing seeds and helping sell the specialty produce and cut flowers at various farmers’ markets around Richmond, where she lives. Her farm is part of the exploding Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA movement. At CSAs, customers become shareholders, pre-purchasing a share of the crops up front, in order to have fresh vegetables either delivered to them or picked up at designated drop spots.

Click here for an audio podcast of CSA farmer Natalie Mesnard discussing how she got into farming and what it involves

But even as the local food movement and CSA concept steams ahead, there is a new bill with bipartisan support, H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, sponsored by John Dingell (D-Mich), that is causing consternation among national farmers’ rights groups and small farmers. On June 17, after an amendment from Henry Waxman (D-CA), the fast-tracked bill was referred to the full House “for later consideration”–and could conceivably be voted on this year, although there is still a chance for amendments.

Below is a video about two local CSAs filmed at the Bryan Park Farmer’s Market in Richmond.

CSAs provide means for small farmers

“CSAs form a very important community-building role and there’s a real social connection there,” says Erin Barnett, director of Local Harvest, an established organic and local food website offering a national directory of small farms and farmers’ markets. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the site was founded by Guillermo Payet, a software engineer and activist “dedicated to generating positive social change through the Internet,” according to its site. But perhaps more importantly, Barnett says that CSAs “help create a way that quite small-scale farming can be financially viable for the farmer.”

Local Harvest has been informally tracking CSAs for roughly a decade, and its numbers show that “buying local” saw a spike in the summer of 2007. In 1996, the Local Harvest database estimated that there were roughly 600 CSAs nationwide as opposed to over 3,000 today. But they admit this number is likely low.

According to the 2007 census update by the United States Department of Agriculture, Virginia is 15th in the nation with 335 farms marketing their products through CSAs. However, this was the first time the USDA asked questions about CSAs and the number is most likely higher. The census also found that the majority of U.S. farms today are smaller operations, classified as residential/lifestyle farms with sales of less than a quarter million dollars. Nearly 60 percent of Virginia farms are under 100 acre farms, up three percent from the last census in 2002.

Click here for a 2007 chart of the top 15 states whose farms marketed through CSAs. Data provided by USDA Economic Research.

Small farms advocates oppose bill

“If this bill passes, they are going to implement national standards for growing produce,” says Pete Kennedy, attorney and interim president with the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit group whose mission is to protect the constitutional right of farmers to sell their projects directly to consumers. He notes that recent salmonella outbreaks at corporations like Peanut Corporation of America have gotten major publicity and helped create a climate of hysteria where bills like this one are being pushed through unexamined.

Nobody is sure how detailed these standards will be, but if you failed to follow them you would be guilty of adulteration under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Kennedy says. Among the bill’s many alarming provisions: Anyone who sells food would be subject to random warantless searches of their records (“It basically gives them the liberty to go on a fishing expedition,” Kennedy says). The bill would also impose “annual registration fees of $500 on all facilities holding, processing, or manufacturing food and require that such facilities also engaged in the transport or packing of food maintain pedigrees of the origin and previous distribution history of the food.” The bill would also require farmers to install a tracing system for all components of their food.

“The large corporations, the Monsantos, would have the economies of scale to comply with all the regulations and the small grower won’t,” Kennedy explains. “[Small farmers] don’t have the time or resources to come up with a food safety plan that people would be required to, or conduct a hazard analysis and report ready for the government.”

Also, the secretary of United States Department of Health and Human Services would have the power to impose quarantine on a geographic location, so Kennedy says this theoretically means they could halt all movement of all food at any time.

Spencer Neale, senior assistant director of the Virginia Farm Bureau, says his organization is against the bill, which puts too much authority in the hands of the FDA.

“You can’t live in a risk-free society,” Neale says. “It sort of says we’re going to absolve risk by creating these new layers of bureaucracy.”

The Farm Bureau represents over 80 percent of Virginia farmers, a broad spectrum that includes organic and natural farmers. The organization, which has a lobbying presence, feels that food safety issue is “more of a resource issue” and that there are adequate resources currently available to United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control. Neale adds that there are a number of other national groups actively lobbying against the food safety bill and others like it.

Click here for 2007 USDA statistics on the characteristics of Virginia farms.

To access the above chart, you can download a free copy of Adobe Reader here.

As an example of a provision that would adversely affect small farmers, Neale cites one small example from the bill that would require small farmers to electronically submit records.

“A lot of farmers still don’t have computers or they live in dial-up areas,” Neale points out. “Any of these provisions are going to cost money and farmers are always at the bottom of the chain.”

The bill was first publicized on May 26 and is currently on the fast track. On June 17, it was considered by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, which recommended it to the House. You can read the bill and follow its progress here. It’s difficult to tell who exactly began pushing the bill, but there is a growing consensus among bloggers that agribusiness lobbyists, many of whom later take positions in the FDA, could be behind it. Steve Lendman, a Chicago author, blogger, and research associate for the Center of Research on Globalization, sums it up when he writes, “the FDA notoriously serves the interests of industries it represents and betrays the public’s well-being.”

Congressman Dingell’s office did not return comment for this story by press time.

Local reactions to the bill

“This will put everybody out of business,” says Sherri Cantrell, co-owner of Trail’s End CSA Farm in Montpelier. Cantrell says she has already written a form letter to her Congressional representative opposing the bill.

Another local farmer, Aaron Black, of Charles City-based N.S. farms called the bill “ridiculous” and felt that it would be difficult to enforce.

Click here to be directed to an audio podcast of CSA farmer Aaron Black giving his reaction to H.R. 2749

Gina Collins, of Victory Farms in Hanover, which operates a CSA, doesn’t seem alarmed when asked about the bill. She admits she is not surprised about the upcoming legislation because there is a long history of large-scale corporate farms and chemical companies trying to wipe out the small farmer. That’s one reason whey her farm is part of the Certified Naturally Grown, a non-profit group that provides certification for small-scale, direct-market farmers who use natural methods of growing.

“Farmers are trying to farm …. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of time to spend on much of anything else,” Collins says. “One reason we like Certified Naturally Grown is that they are strong lobbyists for the small farmer.”

Gina and Charlie Collins run Victory Farms CSA in Hanover County, Virginia. Click on the photo to see a slideshow about their farm.

Gary Scott, president of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming, who also runs a 76-acre berry farm in Nelson County, agrees that he is not terribly worried about H.R. 2749 or other safety bills like it.

“With the current administration … I think they get it, when it comes to small sustainable agriculture,” Scott says. “Whether they have the guts to override corporate agriculture, we’re gonna see … But these bills constantly change.”

Mesnard says that the so-called “locivore” scene has been on the upswing lately, thanks partly to the media publicity surrounding tainted food cases. Since the economic recession hit, she says, there has been even more reason to get involved in the growing of food. But many small farmers, she points out, have difficulty understanding the legal wording of H.R. 2749 and are simply waiting to see what will happen.

“It’s a very long bill, and I said to myself I don’t have time to read this,” Mesnard says. “I don’t think its good to be alarmist if you haven’t read through to find out what’s going on.”

Grassroots opposition

A grass roots group that is adamantly opposed to the H.R. 2749 bill, Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, or VICFA, argues that supporters of the bill are using bioterrorism and pandemic fears to push through a bill that chiefly benefits large industrial food exporting corporations like Monsanto.

“As far as I’m concerned, the industrial food supply is much more of a threat to the security of this country [via bioterorrism],” says Deborah Stockton, executive director of National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and a board member of VICFA who lives in Ivy, Virginia. “The areas of vulnerability are centralized production, centralized processing and long distance transportation. That does not hold true for small farm production and local distribution.”

Stockton believes that what most food safety regulations have done is eliminate the ability of small farmers to feed their communities. She is not aware of any agricultural groups that support the bill but says that news reports have tied Monsanto corporation to food safety legislation.

“That should raise a red flag for anyone, Monsanto is the biggest threat to food safety in the world,” she says. “This is incredibly comprehensive, totalitarian bill that will put every single molecule of food production under the FDA—you have to ask yourself, why is this on the fast track?”

When asked for comment on the bill, Monsanto spokesperson Brad Mitchell said the company had been linked by erroneous news reports to another similar bill, H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act introduced by Rose DeLauro (D-Comm)—whose husband had done contract work for Monsanto over a decade ago.

“I don’t believe we have a position on [2749],” says Mitchell. “We are a seed company, not much in the safety bills impacts our business. We have nothing against organic farmers—a lot of them are our customers. The idea that we are behind these bills or pushing them is ridiculous.”

But Mitchell does admit that there is a “valid” financial concern for small operators to comply with complex laws of reporting involved with the safety bills.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak has publicly announced that he wants to meet with small farmers about food safety and the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification Act, an animal tracing law that would also affect small farmers. But Stockton says he has ignored repeated requests from VICFA.

The future of CSAs

The roots of the CSA movement in this country can be traced back to Massachusetts in 1985 when farmer Robyn Van En, owner of Indian Line Farm, began growing winter vegetables by partnering with her community, according to a history by the Rodale Institute, a veteran organic research non-profit based in Pennsylvania since 1947.

While they have seen a huge growth in numbers since then, it’s open to debate as to where CSAs and small farmers are going next, and what distribution model will develop in the face of likely increased safety legislation?

“We see it going further into customization and more farmers working together,” says Barnett of Local Harvest, adding that there are plenty examples throughout the country of small farms working together to pool their resources. “It becomes a more one-stop shopping for all the food that is available locally.”

Neale is not so sure that the trends toward local food will even continue in the long term.

“I believe consumers are very fickle and follow trends and cost and convenience rules for most,” he says. “While I hope local food movement is still vibrant in five years, it may well be out of vogue and their will be another trend driving food sales.”

As far as CSAs go, Neale says that there is probably a ceiling that local food producers are going to reach just based on demographics of Virginia. He notes that local products are usually geared toward people who can pay a little more.

“I think there is still a lot of growth potential, but it’s going to have to be more innovative marketing,” he says. “CSAs have a place, but to me there is a limit as to how much demand they can fill.”

Although he thinks CSAs are great for paying farmers up front, Scott says the real challenge for local food comes down to distribution.

“For growers, it’s the labor, packaging and distribution of food,” he says.

He points out that a good example of new thinking in food distribution is the Local Food Hub about 20 minutes north of Charlottesville (see slideshow and video). The non-profit organization is privately funded by community supporters and seeks to provide infrastructure for small farmers by providing a central buying and distribution point for farms and consumers in the Charlottesville area. The group of volunteers, who are all under 40 years old, also hopes to provide education for younger farmers through several innovative new programs.

The loading zone of the non-profit Local Food Hub in Ivy, Virginia. Click on the photo to take a slideshow tour.

Meanwhile, farmer’s markets are still springing up around Richmond and local farmers are finding more outlets for their product than ever. Markets currently in operation include the 17th Streeet Farmer’s Market, The Byrd House Market, The Market Emporium at Bryan Park and others. But this may change dramatically if H.R. 2749, or some version of it, passes and small farmers begin to feel the heat.

“If they try to force this through, there will be a civil rights movement or more,” Stockton says. “This is not just another bill, this is a radical change.”

SIDEBAR: Michael Pollan explains what to look for in a CSA

Best-selling author Michael Pollan (photo credit: Ken Light)

“If you look at the food system we have, it’s the result of the incentives we have set up, which is basically encouraging farmers to grow a lot of corn and soy which are the building blocks of fast food,” says Michael Pollan, best-selling author and a leader in the food sustainability movement. Pollan is featured prominently in a new major documentary, “Food Inc.,” which looks at the industrial food system in detail and finds horrifying problems with the safety of our food production.

Click here to be taken to an audio podcast of best-selling author Michael Pollan discussing the early food-related moves of the Obama administration

The CDC reports that there are over 76 million cases of food borne illness resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths every year in this country.

One of the most common complaints people have about switching to eating more local or organic food is the greater price when compared to cheap imports at Wal Mart and other box stores. According to the USDA, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all food increased 5.5 percent in 2008, the highest annual increase since 1990, and it was forecasting yet another increase of between 3.0 to 4.0 percent in 2009.

“If we level the playing field and rejigger the incentives so farmers are rewarded for growing healthier food, the price would come down,” Pollan says.

Pollan says that it is important to ask the right questions when choosing a CSA.

“The right question is not, “Are you organic?” Because there are a lot of really good farmers who are not certified because they don’t want to deal with paper work. Sometimes they are really good farmers. Joel Salatin [of Virginia’s Polyface Farms, eight miles west of Staunton], who I profiled in the “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” is not organic but is more sustainable than virtually any farmer I can think of.”

Besides weighing the financial commitment, Pollan lists two questions that are key to ask of any small farmer:

“How do you deal with fertility, are you using chemicals or composting or animal waste or synthetic nitrogen (food grown with lots of synthetic nitrogen tend to be less nutritious and worse for the soil)? And how do you deal with pests—through clever crop rotations or pesticide, and what kind of pesticide if they are using that?”

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