The Prince William Chamber of Commerce hosted the ‘Blueprint Virginia 2025’ luncheon to discuss the future of Virginia’s businesses and economy.
The luncheon was hosted at Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA) Workforce Development Center in Woodbridge.
Blueprint Virginia 2025 is the upcoming newest iteration of Blueprint Virginia – a plan completed every eight years by the Virginia Chamber Foundation to outline what the business community and other constituencies would like to see in terms of economic development and growth in the state.
Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) President Stephen Moret spoke about the department, and how Virginia has fallen in the national business rankings in recent years.
“Ever since federal sequestration our growth has slowed down…we have a lot of great assets but we also have some challenges to address at the same time,” said Moret.
Moret stated that he has five primary aspirations for VEDP; to achieve an employment growth rate among the top 3 southern states, to ensure that all regions in Virginia have economic growth, to restore Virginia to its average top 3 national business climate ranking, to re-establish VEDP as the country’s top Economic Development Organization, and to work with local, regional, and state partners to achieve those goals.
“When you look at the last five years in Virginia…it’s not just that the urban crescent has been driving the growth in Virginia, it’s that we’ve had roughly half of Virginia that’s actually in decline – literally losing population,” said Moret.
While Moret thinks there’s a lot of work to be done, he sees a positive future for the Commonwealth.
“Not only do I have a lot of optimism for the future of Virginia, we are taking very deliberate action to position the Commonwealth for a brighter economic future, and a future that I know Prince William County will be a big part of,” said Moret.
Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Barry DuVal shared information on the Blueprint Virginia 2025 plan, and how the Chamber plans to bring different constituencies together to form the plan.
“I believe we’re the best state in which to do business, I think we have some work to do to return to that for national ranking. The power of ideas shapes public policy. In order to shape public policy you have to have a strong business community,” said DuVal.
In a presentation shared by DuVal, the presentation stated that by 2025, Virginia will add 1 million in new residents, 800,000 jobs will need to be filled, and 1 million jobs will be vacated by a retiring workforce.
