Rural towns like Virginia can recover by creating their own economy.
In an economy, the production and consumption of goods and services are used to fulfill the needs of those living and operating within it.
An economy or town, grows by traders cooperating rather than competing with each other.
This year, for example, people are being encouraged to take holidays in Ireland.
What can Virginia offer these people?
The first problem that might be identified is the lack of hotel rooms. Let's turn that into an opportunity! We have many of big houses with spare rooms which could be used for B&B and create an extra source of income. The rooms may need to be upgraded and decorated, this creates another source of income for tradesmen and suppliers. People staying in B&Bs like homemade bread and scones, maybe the householder doesn't bake so the local bakery supplies the fresh baked goods. The next problem might be "how am I going to get the sheets and towels washed and dried, this is where your local laundry service comes in. Now we have the people in the area with accommodation what else can we offer them and what further opportunities can we create to get money in circulation. There is lots of money — we just need to get it into circulation.
Education or knowledge doesn't get money in circulation. It is the action that creates wealth. If you can't get a job, then you create one by providing a service that people want.
We created the Virginia Pages Business and Community Platform to help people trade with each other. When you create a product, service, or event you have to let people know about it. People also need to know where to go to find local services. Every week in the Virginia Residents Group there are people actively looking for services. Currently there are 1.2k people in the group, plus there are 2.2k followers on the Virginia Pages Facebook page.
Did you know? There are upwards of 10k visitors to the Virginia Pages every month.
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